Key events
Suspilne, Ukraine’s state broadcaster, reports that Znob-Novhorodske in Sumy oblasts was struck six times overnight by Russian artillery fire, but there were “no consequences”.
Thanks for following along – that’s it from me, Helen Sullivan, for today. My colleague Martin Belam will take you through the rest of the day’s news.
Russia calls on US to stop ‘hostile’ flights
AFP has this flash of news, saying Russia has called on the US to halt what it calls its “hostile” flights, after the collision of a Russian fighter jet with a US MQ-9 Reaper drone that the Pentagon said was conducting a routine flight.
We should have more detail on the statement shortly.
China, Iran and Russia will conduct maritime drills in the Gulf of Oman starting today, the China defence ministry says. The drills will run until 19 March.
What is the MQ-9 Reaper?
Jonathan Yerushalmy
The collision of the Russian fighter jet with a US MQ-9 Reaper drone over the Black Sea has raised fears of an escalation in Ukraine conflict. Close encounters between western and Russian aircraft are not unusual, but the incident on Tuesday raises the stakes because it led to US officials having to crash land the drone into the sea.
The use of drones, or unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV), in and around war zones has been going on for decades.
This is what we know about the MQ-9 Reaper and how it is traditionally deployed:
The MQ-9 Reaper is a large unmanned aircraft manufactured by military contractor, General Atomics. It is remotely operated by a two-person team, consisting of a pilot and an aircrew member who operates sensors and guides weapons.
The aircraft is 11 metres long with a wingspan of over 22 metres. The US air force says its primary use is as “an intelligence-collection asset”, while also highlighting its “unique capability to perform” precision strikes against “high-value and time-sensitive targets”. Reaper’s can carry as many as 16 Hellfire missiles, equivalent to the payload capacity of an Apache helicopter.
Reapers, like other UAVs, are able to fly at an altitude of 50,000 ft (15 km) and can loiter over targets for about 24 hours, making them useful for surveillance missions. Crucially, all of this occurs with a flight crew that remains based in the United States, away from danger.
Over the 2018 calendar year, MQ-9 Reapers flew a total of 325,000 hours for the US air force, 91% of which was in support of combat operations.
You can read more about how the drones are used here:
Australia defence minister says Russia is ‘not playing by the rules’
In Australia, defence minister, Richard Marles, has commented on the drone incident, saying: “I think this, again, is an example of Russia not playing by the rules, which is actually what’s at stake in the whole conflict in Ukraine.”
He added: “Russia have some explaining to do in terms of the way in which they’ve acted in respect of this drone.”
Elisabeth Braw, a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute in Washington, had this to say when Reuters asked her about the drone incident.
The conflict is at a “very sensitive stage,” she said, “because it really is the first direct contact that the public knows about between the West and Russia.”
RAF and German jets intercept Russian aircraft
The UK’S Royal Air Force and German fighter jets have intercepted a Russian aircraft flying over Estonian airspace, the BBC reports.
“The interception itself was routine, but it is the first time such an operation has been carried out together by the two countries,” the BBC writes.
The two countries are conducting planned joint Nato air policing in the region and intercepted the refuelling aircraft because it failed to communicate with Estonian air traffic control.
The UK’s armed forces minister, James Heappey, said, “Nato continues to form the bedrock of our collective security. This joint UK and German deployment in the Baltics clearly demonstrates our collective resolve to challenge any potential threat to Nato’s borders, while demonstrating our combined strength.”
Assad to meet Putin in Moscow
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad arrived in Moscow on Tuesday on his first official visit outside the Middle East since February’s devastating earthquake, according to a statement from the Syrian Presidency via the Telegram messaging app.
Assad will hold talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin during his visit, alongside a large Syrian ministerial delegation, the statement said.
A Kremlin statement said the two leaders would discuss cooperation in the political, trade and humanitarian spheres “as well as prospects for an overall settlement of the situation in and around Syria”.
Russia launched a military campaign in Syria in 2015 that helped to turn the tide in its civil war in favour of Assad by conducting massive aerial bombardments of opposition-held areas and helping Assad to regain much of the territory he lost to rebels who sought to topple him.
Syria remains Moscow’s firmest foothold on the southern flank of Nato, Reuters reports.
Moscow should respect international airspace, says UK defence minister
Responding to the drone incident, British Defence Secretary Ben Wallace has urged Moscow to respect international airspace.
“The key here is that all parties respect international airspace and we urge the Russians to do so,” Wallace told Reuters at the DSEI Japan defence show in Chiba prefecture, near Tokyo. “The Americans have said they think it is unprofessional,” he added.
The incident involving a Russian Su-27 fighter jet fighter plane and a US military MQ-9 drone is the first such direct encounter between the two powers since Russia invaded Ukraine over a year ago, Reuters reports, and risks deepening tensions between Washington and Moscow.
Russia said it viewed the incident as a provocation.
Summary
Hello and welcome to today’s live coverage of the war in Ukraine. My name is Helen Sullivan and I’ll be bringing you the latest for the next few hours.
British Defence Secretary Ben Wallace urged Moscow to respect international airspace, after the United States said that Russia had caused one of its drones to crash into the Black Sea on Tuesday.
We’ll have more on the response to the drone incident shortly. In the meantime, here are the key recent developments:
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A Russian fighter collided with a US Reaper drone, forcing it down into the Black Sea, in what US forces called an “unsafe and unprofessional” intercept. A US European Command statement said the collision happened just after 7am on Tuesday, when two Russian Su-27 fighter jets flew up to the MQ-9 Reaper drone over international waters west of Crimea. The statement said the Russian pilots sought to disrupt the US aircraft before the collision.
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The US state department summoned the Russia’s ambassador over the drone incident. The White House said the drone’s downing was unique and would be raised directly by state department officials with their Russian counterparts.
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The Russian ambassador to the US called the incident a ‘provocation’. Russia’s RIA state news agency cited Anatoly Antonov as saying, “We do not want any confrontation between the United States and Russia. We are in favour of building pragmatic relations”. Antonov made the comments after being summoned to the US state department.
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The Pentagon said the drone was on a routine ISR (intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance) mission. US air force Brig Gen Pat Ryders said Russia did not have the drone. But he declined to say whether Russia was seeking the wreckage so that its military intelligence could dissect it.
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Russia’s defence ministry maintained that its fighters “did not use airborne weapons and did not come into contact” with the US drone. The ministry said fighters from its air defence forces were raised into the air to identify the drone, which the ministry said was heading “in direction of the state border of the Russian Federation”.
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President Volodymyr Zelenskiy and his military chiefs have agreed to keep defending the besieged eastern city of Bakhmut. Gen Valerii Zaluzhnyi, the commander-in-chief of the Ukrainian armed forces, said the defence of Bakhmut was of “paramount strategic importance”. He said: “It is key to the stability of the defence of the entire front.”
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AFP journalists in Eastern Ukraine reported seeing white phosphorus fired from Russian positions on an uninhabited road leading to nearby Bakhmut. Weapons containing phosphorus are incendiary arms whose use against civilians is banned, but they can be deployed against military targets under a 1980 convention signed in Geneva. The Guardian is unable to verify these reports from AFP.
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The UN was scrambling Tuesday to ensure a Ukrainian grain exports deal aimed to ease the global food crisis can continue, but its fate remained unclear days before the 18 March expiry date. Talks between top Russian and United Nations officials in Geneva ended Monday with Moscow saying it would not oppose prolonging the so-called Black Sea Grain Initiative, as many had feared.
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At least one person was killed and three people were injured in shelling of Kramatorsk, in the Donetsk region on Tuesday morning, Volodymyr Zelenskiy said. The Ukrainian president said six high-rise buildings were damaged, adding: “The evil state continues to fight against the civilian population. Every strike that takes an innocent life must result in a lawful and just sentence that punishes murder.
