Russian Defense Minister Sergei Lavrov has issued a state of emergency in response to US drones flying over the Black Sea, the Associated Press reported. The ministry has openly warned that Moscow may take aggressive measures to shoot down the US spy plane.
The Russian Defense Ministry said in a statement that the number of US drones flying over the Black Sea was "increasing" and that the drones were providing intelligence gathering and precision weapons targeting for Ukraine.
The ministry said the recent US move reflected the growing involvement of the United States and other NATO member states in the war in Ukraine.
"Such flights significantly increase the likelihood of an accident for Russian military aircraft and increase the risk of a direct confrontation between the NATO coalition and Russia," the statement said.
This is not the first time Washington and Moscow have clashed over such issues since the war in Ukraine began. A Russian Su-27 fighter jet damaged a US Reaper drone in the Black Sea in March 2023, triggering the first direct clash between Russian and US forces since the Cold War. .
Russia has accused US spy planes of flying too close to its borders since it annexed Crimea in 2014.
Russian officials said the statement on Friday came after Ukraine attacked Sevastopol (a port in the southwestern Crimean peninsula) with US-made ATACMS missiles, which Russian officials said left four dead and nearly 150 wounded.
Russian officials say the US was directly involved in the attack by providing information and targeting, and has warned of retaliation.
The Belarusian army also announced on Friday that it had strengthened its forces along the northern border with Ukraine in response to security threats.
The Belarusian Defense Ministry said it had deployed several missiles in an unspecified part of the 1,840-kilometer border with Ukraine.
The statement came after Belarus' border agency said its forces had shot down a Ukrainian drone flying near the border to gather intelligence.
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