Video shows Russian jet dumping fuel on US Reaper drone during ‘reckless’ interception over Black Sea
The US Air Force has released video said to show a Russian jet intercepting an American drone and dumping fuel on it over the Black Sea.
It said two Russian Su-27 jets flew close to the MQ-9 Reaper before one hit its propeller and forced remote operators to crash it into the ocean.
Tuesday’s incident has shown the increasing risk of direct confrontation between the superpowers as fighting continues in nearby Ukraine.
Defending the decision by the US to release the footage, Brigadier Pat Ryder said they felt it was important to show the “reckless” and “dangerous” behaviour of the Russians.
He said that the US “took steps to protect information aboard [the] aircraft”, and have indications that Russia is “likely making an effort” to recover debris of the drone.
“It is very unlikely they are able to recover anything useful,” he said.
Mr Ryder added that the US does not seek conflict with Russia, and will continue to support Ukraine.
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Pentagon: ‘No conflict with Russia’
Retired air vice-marshal Sean Bell said that the jet’s manoeuvre was probably an attempt to “wash the fuel into the drone’s engine and therefore take it out”.
“As he pulls the aircraft up, he hasn’t got the aerodynamics because he’s isn’t flying very fast… [the plane] gets very close to the body of the drone and almost certainly just clips the propeller,” he told Sky News.
Mr Bell called the pilot “incompetent” but said the collision was likely an accident because it also put the Russian plane in danger.
The MQ-9 Reaper – which has a 20-metre (66ft) wingspan and cost about $32m (£26m) – is often used for surveillance but can also be armed.
The MQ-9 is remotely piloted. File pic
Su-27 fighter jets. File pic
American officials have accused the Russian pilots of flying in a “reckless, environmentally unsound and unprofessional manner”.
Moscow has denied the jets behaved dangerously and said they didn’t come into contact with the drone, claiming it crashed due to “sharp manoeuvring”.
It said the Reaper was flying towards the Russian border with its transponders – wireless communication devices – turned off.
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Drone downed by ‘incompetent pilot’
Russian defence minister Sergei Shoigu accused the US of ignoring flight restrictions imposed by Russia due to the Ukraine war.
America has insisted the drone was in international airspace and well clear of the conflict zone.
The seriousness of the incident has prompted the first calls since October between the countries’ defence secretaries and top commanders.
Russia has said it will try to recover the remains of the drone but no parts appear to have been recovered so far, a US official, speaking anonymously, told Reuters.
The interception happened over the Black Sea
Washington said the aircraft came down in water about 1,200 to 1,500m deep and that measures had been taken to ensure no sensitive information could be gathered.
There are no American ships in the region so its own recovery attempts are unlikely, according to US officials.
A day after the incident, UK and German fighter jets were scrambled to intercept a Russian aircraft which failed to communicate with Estonian air traffic control.
The Ministry of Defence described it as a “routine” NATO mission.
New pictures show the moment of impact as an Israeli missile hit a Beirut apartment block and exploded.
The block was one of five buildings destroyed by airstrikes on Friday alone.
Israel launched airstrikes in the southern suburbs of Beirut in a fourth consecutive day of intense attacks.
There were no immediate reports of casualties.
An Associated Press photographer captured a sequence of images showing an Israeli bomb approaching and hitting a multi-storey apartment building in Beirut’s Tayouneh area.
Richard Weir, a senior crisis, conflict and arms researcher at Human Rights Watch, reviewed the close-up photos to determine what type of weapon was used.
“The bomb and components visible in the photographs, including the strake, wire harness cover, and tail fin section, are consistent with a Mk-84 series 2,000-pound class general purpose bomb equipped with Boeing’s joint directed attack munition tail kit,” he told AP.
Pics: AP
Smoke covers a building that collapses following the strike. Pic: AP
Deadly strikes as bombardment stepped up
Israel stepped up its bombardment this week – an escalation that has coincided with signs of movement in US-led diplomacy towards a ceasefire.
The Israeli military said its fighter jets attacked munitions warehouses, a headquarters and other Hezbollah infrastructure. It issued a warning on social media identifying buildings ahead of the strikes.
Meanwhile, an Israeli airstrike killed five members of the same family in a home in Ain Qana in the southern province of Nabatiyeh, Lebanon’s state media said.
The report said a mother, father and their three children were killed but didn’t provide their ages.
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Three other Israeli strikes killed six people and wounded 32 in different parts of Tyre province on Friday, also in south Lebanon, the report said.
Video footage also showed a building being struck and turning into a cloud of rubble and debris that billowed into Horsh Beirut, the city’s main park.
Residents check the site of the airstrike in Tayouneh, Beirut. Pic: AP
More than 3,200 people have been killed in Lebanon during 13 months of fighting between Israel and Hezbollah – most of them since mid-September.
About 27% of those killed were women and children, according to Lebanon’s health ministry.
Israel dramatically escalated its bombardment of Lebanon from September, vowing to cripple Hezbollah and end its barrages in Israel.
Friday’s strikes come as Lebanon’s caretaker prime minister has asked Iran to help secure a ceasefire in the war between Israel and Hezbollah.
The prime minister appeared to urge Ali Larijani, a top adviser to Iran’s supreme leader, Ali Khamenei, to convince the militant group to agree to a deal that could require it to pull back from the Israel-Lebanon border.
Iran is a main backer of Hezbollah and for decades has been funding and arming the Lebanese militant group.
On Thursday, Eli Cohen, Israel’s energy minister and a member of its security cabinet, said that prospects for a ceasefire with Lebanon were the most promising since the conflict began.
The Washington Post reported Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was rushing to advance a Lebanon ceasefire to deliver an early foreign policy win to his ally, US President-elect Donald Trump.
“Super high-IQ revolutionaries” who are willing to work 80+ hours a week are being urged to join Elon Musk’s new cost-cutting department in Donald Trump’s incoming US government.
The X and Tesla owner will co-lead the Department Of Government Efficiency (DOGE) with former Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy.
And in a post on X, the official DOGE account put out a call to arms for people to sign up and help “dismantle government bureaucracy”.
The post said: “We are very grateful to the thousands of Americans who have expressed interest in helping us at DOGE.
“We don’t need more part-time idea generators.
“We need super high-IQ small-government revolutionaries willing to work 80+ hours per week on unglamorous cost-cutting.
“If that’s you, DM this account with your CV. Elon & Vivek will review the top 1% of applicants.”
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Elon Musk speaking at an event held at Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate. Pic: AP Photo/Alex Brandon
In a reply to an interested party, Mr Musk suggested the lucky applicants would be working for free.
“Indeed, this will be tedious work, make lost of enemies & compensation is zero,” the world’s richest man wrote.
“What a great deal!”
When announcing the new department, President-elect Donald Trump said Mr Musk and Mr Ramaswamy “will pave the way for my administration to dismantle government bureaucracy, slash excess regulations, cut wasteful expenditures, and restructure federal agencies”.
Mr Musk has previously made clear his desire to see cuts to “government waste” and in a post on his X platform suggested he could axe as many as three-quarters of the more than 400 federal departments in the US, writing: “99 is enough.”
At least 10 people have been killed after a fire broke out at a retirement home in northern Spain in the early hours of this morning, officials have said.
A further two people were seriously injured in the blaze at the residence in the town of Villafranca de Ebro in Zaragoza, according to the Spanish news website Diario Sur.
Two people remain in a critical condition following the blaze. Pic: AP
They remain in a critical condition, while several others received treatment for smoke inhalation.
Firefighters were alerted to the blaze at the residence – the Jardines de Villafranca – at 5am (4am UK time) on Friday.
Several residents were treated for smoke inhalation. Pic: AP
Those who were killed in the fire died from smoke inhalation, Spanish newspaper Heraldo reported.
The residence is home to 82 elderly residents.
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The blaze started in one of the rooms, Fernando Beltran, the national government’s top official in the region, told reporters.
All of the victims were elderly residents, he added.
Relatives wait for news outside the care home. Pic: AP
Fire crews, paramedics and police officers remain on site, said a spokesperson for the regional government of Aragon who confirmed the fatalities.
It took firefighters several hours to extinguish the blaze, they said.
The cause of the fire is unknown and is being investigated.
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