Austin says US will continue to fly drones over Black Sea and condemns Russian downing as 'aggressive'

"This hazardous episode is part of a pattern of aggressive, and risky, and unsafe actions in international airspace," Austin said at the beginning of a meeting of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group. "So make no mistake, the United States will continue to fly and to operate wherever international law allows. And it is incumbent upon Russia to operate as military aircraft in a safe and professional manner."

Austin is the most senior official of the administration thus far to directly address the incident, which happened on Tuesday when two Russian Su-27 aircraft intercepted a US MQ-9 Reaper drone. President Joe Biden was briefed on the incident by national security adviser Jake Sullivan on Tuesday.

The downing of the drone marked the first time Russian and US military aircraft have come into direct physical contact since Moscow launched its invasion of Ukraine. On Wednesday, a Kremlin spokesperson said that relations between Moscow and Washington are at their 'lowest point.' However, the US has not yet announced it is taking any action against Russia over the incident, suggesting the Biden administration may be looking to avoid escalating matters further.

Pentagon spokesman Brig. Gen. Patrick Ryder said Tuesday that the Russian aircraft flew in the vicinity of the drone for 30 to 40 minutes before one of the aircraft hit the MQ-9, resulting in the US bringing the drone down into the water.

National Security Council communications coordinator John Kirby told "CNN This Morning" on Wednesday that the drone "has not been recovered and I'm not sure we're going to be able to recover it" but told CNN's Jake Tapper on Tuesday that the US took steps "to protect our equities with respect to that particular drone."

The US erased sensitive software on the drone remotely before it crashed to prevent Russia from collecting secret information, two US officials told CNN.

On Wednesday Russia made clear it will attempt to retrieve the wreckage of the drone.

"I don't know if we will be able to get it or not, but we need to do it... And we will definitely look into it," Russian Security Council Secretary Nikolai Patrushev said on Russian state TV channel Rossiya 1.

The US does not have any Navy ships in the Black Sea, according to a Navy official, which would make any attempted US recovery effort extremely difficult and time-consuming.

The mid-air encounter occurred approximately 45 miles southwest of the Crimean peninsula, one of the US officials said. The MQ-9 landed approximately 70 miles southwest of Crimea after gliding away from the occupied territory, the official added.

Russia has denied the US' account of the incident, with Russian Ambassador to the US Anatoly Antonov saying Tuesday that Russia had "informed about this space that was identified as a zone for special military operation." Antonov also said that the MQ-9 "flew with its transponders off, violating the boundaries of the temporary airspace," and that Russian aircraft did not come into contact with it.

The Kremlin continued its defense on Wednesday, with spokesperson Dmitry Peskov telling reporters to focus on the ministry of defense's statement, "which clearly states that no weapons were used, and there was no physical contact."

Peskov said relations between the US and Russia are in a "deplorable state" and at their "lowest point," adding that Russian President Vladimir Putin was briefed on the incident.

Oleksiy Danilov, Secretary of Ukraine's National Security and Defence Council, described the incident as a "signal" of Putin's "readiness to expand the conflict zone with the involvement of other parties."

"The incident with the American MQ-9 Reaper UAV, provoked by [R]ussia in the Black Sea, is [P]utin's signal of readiness to expand the conflict zone with the involvement of other parties," he said. "The all-in tactic is the constant raising of rates in conditions of a strategic loss and hoping that circumstances would change."

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