Following the dramatic incident involving an American drone over the Black Sea, Russia has issued a warning to the United States to discontinue any “hostile” actions near its border.

On Wednesday, Ukraine stated that the recent incident – which marks the first documented face-to-face clash between the two major powers since the war began last year – demonstrates the Kremlin’s intent to escalate the conflict, DNYUZ reported.

According to the U.S. military, a Russian fighter jet harassed and ultimately collided with the propeller of an MQ-9 Reaper drone on Tuesday, which compelled the U.S. to bring down the drone in international waters.

The U.S. government condemned the incident as a blatant breach of international law and called in Moscow’s representative to register a formal complaint, as reported by DNYUZ.

Russia refuted any allegations that its planes made contact with the drone and instead blamed the U.S. for conducting surveillance operations near its airspace to assist Ukraine.

Written by staff