US, Russia ratchet up their rhetoric over downing of drone

Editor’s note: This story has been updated with additional information.

KYIV, Ukraine — Russia and the United States ratcheted up confrontational rhetoric Wednesday over a U.S. surveillance drone that encountered Russian warplanes and crashed near the Crimean Peninsula, which the Kremlin has illegally annexed. At the same time, the two countries’ defense chiefs opened a dialogue about the incident.

The Kremlin said the flight proved again that Washington is directly involved in the fighting in Ukraine and added that Moscow would try to recover the drone’s wreckage from the Black Sea. U.S. officials said the incident showed Russia’s aggressive and risky behavior and pledged to continue their surveillance.

Russia has long voiced concern about U.S. surveillance flights near its borders, but Tuesday’s incident signaled Moscow’s increasing readiness to raise the ante as tensions soar between the two nuclear powers. It reflected the Kremlin’s appetite for brinkmanship that could further destabilize the situation and lead to more direct confrontations.

U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, who said the incident was part of a “pattern of aggressive, risky and unsafe actions by Russian pilots in international airspace,” spoke to his Russian counterpart, Sergei Shoigu, on Wednesday for the first time in five months.

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, right, and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley, attend a virtual meeting of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group, Wednesday, March 15, 2023, at the Pentagon in Washington. (Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/Pool via AP)

“It’s important that great powers be models of transparency and communication, and the United States will continue to fly and to operate wherever international law allows,” Austin told reporters in Washington.

Army Gen. Mark Milley, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff who also appeared at the briefing, said, “We know that the intercept was intentional. We know that the aggressive behavior was intentional,” but whether the Russian warplane’s collision with the MQ-9 Reaper drone was intentional was still unclear.

The Russian Defense Ministry said in its report of the call with Austin that Shoigu noted the U.S. had provoked the incident by ignoring flight restrictions the Kremlin had imposed due to its military operation in Ukraine and also blamed “the intensification of intelligence activities against the interests of the Russian Federation.” Such U.S. actions “are fraught with escalation of the situation in the Black Sea area,” it said, warning that Russia “will respond in kind to all provocations.”

Nikolai Patrushev, the secretary of Russia’s Security Council, said in televised remarks the drone incident was “another confirmation” of direct U.S. involvement in the Ukraine conflict . The Kremlin has repeatedly said the United States and other NATO members have become direct war participants by supplying weapons and intelligence to the Kyiv government and pressuring Ukraine not to negotiate peace.

Patrushev, a confidant of President Vladimir Putin, also said Russia would search for the drone’s debris, but added, “I don’t know if we can recover them or not, but we will certainly have to do that.”

U.S. officials said Russia dispatched ships to try to recover the wreckage, which Milley said were likely submerged 4,000 to 5,000 feet (1,200 to 1,500 meters) deep.

The U.S. has no vessels in the Black Sea because Turkey closed the Bosphorus Strait to warships in 2022, except for those returning to home port.

U.S. National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby said the drone was in international airspace when the Russian warplane struck its propeller. U.S. officials accused Russia of trying to intercept the unmanned aircraft, although its presence over the Black Sea — a strategic military and economic area for both Russia and Ukraine — was not uncommon.

“It is also not uncommon for the Russians to try to intercept them,” Kirby said, adding that such an encounter “does increase the risk of miscalculations, misunderstandings.”

Kirby said the U.S. “took steps to protect the information and to protect, to minimize any effort by anybody else to exploit that drone for useful content.”

Sergei Naryshkin, head of Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service, said Russia is capable of recovering the wreckage.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov repeated the Defense Ministry’s statement that Russian jets didn’t use their weapons or hit the drone. He repeated his description of U.S.-Russia relations as at their lowest point but added that “Russia has never rejected a constructive dialogue, and it’s not rejecting it now.”

In Washington, Russian Ambassador Anatoly Antonov expressed concern about “the unacceptable actions of the United States military in the close proximity to our borders.”

“What do they do thousands of miles away from the United States?” he said in remarks his embassy released. “The answer is obvious -- they gather intelligence which is later used by the Kyiv regime to attack our armed forces and territory.”

He noted “it is important that the lines of communication should remain open,” emphasizing that “Russia does not seek confrontation and stands for pragmatic cooperation in the interests of the peoples of our countries.”

While encounters between Russian and NATO aircraft are not unusual — before the Ukraine invasion, NATO planes were involved in an annual average of 400 intercepts with Russian planes — the war has heightened the significance of such incidents.

“The last thing that anybody should want is for this war in Ukraine to escalate to become something between the United States and Russia,” Kirby said, speaking Wednesday on CNN. “We’ve been working very, very hard throughout the beginning of this conflict ... to make sure that it doesn’t escalate.”

The secretary of Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council, Oleksiy Danilov, tweeted the drone incident was “a signal from Putin that he is ready to expand the conflict zone, with drawing other parties in.”

In another tussle, the U.K. Defense Ministry said British and German fighter jets were scrambled Tuesday to intercept a Russian aircraft near Estonian airspace. The U.K. and Germany are conducting joint air policing missions in Estonia as part of NATO’s bolstering of its eastern flank.

The ministry said the Typhoon jets responded after a Russian refueling aircraft failed to communicate with Estonian air traffic control. The Russian plane did not enter the airspace of Estonia, a NATO member.

In Ukraine, at least three civilians were killed and another 23 wounded in strikes over the previous 24 hours, the presidential office said.

In partially occupied Donetsk province, where much of the heaviest fighting has been concentrated, Gov. Pavlo Kyrylenko said 14 cities and villages were shelled. That included Kramatorsk, where some Ukrainian forces are based.

In embattled Bakhmut , where a Russian assault has continued for months, Ukrainian forces have successfully fought for northern parts of the city, Ukrainian Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Maliar said.

In the northeastern Kharkiv region, one person was killed and another was wounded in Vovchansk, a city near the border with Russia. Gov. Oleh Syniehubov said Russian forces also hit a civilian area in Kharkiv city.

Mayor Ihor Terekhov said on Ukrainian television a boarding school and an apartment building were damaged.

In the south, Russian forces shelled the city of Kherson seven times in the last 24 hours, hitting an infrastructure facility and residential buildings and wounding four people. In Dnipropetrovsk province, Russian forces shelled Nikopol and Marhanets, towns located across a river from the shut-down Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant.

In another development, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy replaced more governors. Without giving a reason, Zelenskyy dismissed the heads of the Luhansk, Odesa and Khmelnytskyi regions.

Volodymyr Fesenko, an analyst at the Penta Kyiv center, said the dismissals “are associated either with a low level of work efficiency or with criticism of abuses.”

Superville reported from Washington. Lolita C. Baldor and Tara Cop in Washington, and Yuras Karmanau in Tallinn, Estonia, contributed.

编者按：本文已更新，添加了更多信息。

乌克兰基辅——周三，一架美国侦察无人机与俄罗斯战机遭遇后坠毁在克里米亚半岛附近，俄罗斯和美国就此事件升级了对抗性言辞。克里姆林宫非法吞并了克里米亚半岛。与此同时，两国国防部长就此事展开了对话。

克里姆林宫表示，此次飞行再次证明华盛顿直接介入乌克兰冲突，并补充说莫斯科将尝试从黑海打捞无人机残骸。美国官员则表示，该事件表明俄罗斯采取了咄咄逼人且冒险的行为，并承诺将继续进行监视。

俄罗斯长期以来一直对美国在其边境附近进行的侦察飞行表示担忧，但周二的事件表明，随着这两个核大国之间的紧张局势急剧升级，莫斯科越来越准备升级争端。这反映出克里姆林宫热衷于边缘政策，而这种政策可能会进一步破坏局势稳定，并导致更直接的对抗。

美国国防部长劳埃德·奥斯汀表示，这起事件是“俄罗斯飞行员在国际空域采取一系列具有侵略性、冒险性和不安全行为”的一部分。周三，他与俄罗斯国防部长谢尔盖·绍伊古进行了五个月来的首次通话。

2023年3月15日星期三，美国国防部长劳埃德·奥斯汀（右）和参谋长联席会议主席马克·米利将军在华盛顿五角大楼出席乌克兰防务联络小组的视频会议。（Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/Pool via AP）

“大国应该成为透明和沟通的典范，这一点非常重要。美国将继续在国际法允许的任何地方飞行和开展行动。”奥斯汀在华盛顿对记者说。

出席简报会的参谋长联席会议主席、陆军上将马克·米利表示：“我们知道这次拦截是故意的。我们知道这种挑衅行为是故意的。”但俄罗斯战机与MQ-9“死神”无人机的碰撞是否是故意的，目前尚不清楚。

俄罗斯国防部在与奥斯汀通话的报告中称，绍伊古指出，美国无视克里姆林宫因其在乌克兰的军事行动而实施的飞行限制，挑起了此次事件，并指责美国“加大了针对俄罗斯联邦利益的情报活动”。报告称，美国的此类行为“极有可能加剧黑海地区的局势”，并警告说，俄罗斯“将对一切挑衅行为予以对等回应”。

俄罗斯联邦安全会议秘书尼古拉·帕特鲁舍夫在电视讲话中表示，无人机事件“再次证实”美国直接介入乌克兰冲突。克里姆林宫一再表示，美国和其他北约成员国通过向基辅政府提供武器和情报，并向乌克兰施压，阻止其进行和平谈判，已成为直接的战争参与者。

俄罗斯总统弗拉基米尔·普京的亲信帕特鲁舍夫也表示，俄罗斯将搜寻无人机的残骸，但他补充说：“我不知道我们能否找到它们，但我们肯定要这样做。”

美国官员表示，俄罗斯已派出船只试图打捞残骸，米利表示，残骸可能沉没在水下 4,000 至 5,000 英尺（1,200 至 1,500 米）深处。

由于土耳其在 2022 年关闭了博斯普鲁斯海峡，禁止军舰通行（返回母港的军舰除外），因此美国在黑海没有舰艇。

美国国家安全委员会发言人约翰·柯比表示，这架无人机当时位于国际空域，俄罗斯战机撞击了它的螺旋桨。美国官员指责俄罗斯试图拦截这架无人机，尽管无人机出现在黑海上空——黑海对俄罗斯和乌克兰而言都是具有战略意义的军事和经济区域——并不罕见。

柯比说：“俄罗斯人试图拦截他们的情况也并不少见。”他还补充说，这样的遭遇“确实会增加误判和误解的风险”。

柯比表示，美国“采取措施保护信息，并尽可能减少其他人利用该无人机获取有用内容的任何企图”。

俄罗斯对外情报局局长谢尔盖·纳雷什金表示，俄罗斯有能力打捞残骸。

克里姆林宫发言人德米特里·佩斯科夫重申了国防部的声明，称俄罗斯战机没有使用武器，也没有击中无人机。他再次表示美俄关系正处于最低点，但补充说，“俄罗斯从未拒绝过建设性对话，现在也不会拒绝。”

在华盛顿，俄罗斯大使阿纳托利·安东诺夫对“美国军方在我国边境附近采取的不可接受的行动”表示关切。

“他们在距离美国数千英里之外做什么？”他在大使馆发布的声明中说。“答案显而易见——他们收集情报，然后基辅政权利用这些情报攻击我们的武装部队和领土。”

他指出“保持沟通渠道畅通非常重要”，并强调“俄罗斯不寻求对抗，而是主张为了我们两国人民的利益进行务实合作”。

虽然俄罗斯和北约飞机之间的遭遇并不罕见——在乌克兰战争之前，北约飞机每年平均与俄罗斯飞机发生 400 次拦截——但战争加剧了此类事件的重要性。

“任何人都不希望乌克兰战争升级为美俄之间的冲突，”柯比周三在CNN上表示。“从冲突开始之初，我们就一直在竭尽全力……确保冲突不会升级。”

乌克兰国家安全与国防委员会秘书奥列克西·丹尼洛夫在推特上表示，无人机事件是“普京发出的一个信号，表明他准备扩大冲突区域，将其他各方卷入其中”。

英国国防部称，在另一起冲突中，英国和德国的战斗机周二紧急升空，拦截了一架在爱沙尼亚领空附近活动的俄罗斯飞机。英国和德国正在爱沙尼亚开展联合空中警戒任务，这是北约加强其东翼防御行动的一部分。

国防部表示，一架俄罗斯加油机未能与爱沙尼亚空中交通管制部门取得联系后，台风战斗机做出了响应。这架俄罗斯飞机并未进入北约成员国爱沙尼亚的领空。

乌克兰总统办公室称，在过去24小时内的空袭中，至少有3名平民丧生，另有23人受伤。

在部分被占领的顿涅茨克州，战斗最为激烈，州长帕夫洛·基里连科表示，14个城镇和村庄遭到炮击，其中包括驻扎着部分乌克兰军队的克拉马托尔斯克。

乌克兰国防部副部长汉娜·马利亚尔表示，在饱受战火蹂躏的巴赫穆特，俄罗斯军队已经持续进攻数月，乌克兰军队成功夺取了该市北部地区。

在东北部的哈尔科夫州，靠近俄罗斯边境的沃夫昌斯克市发生袭击事件，造成一人死亡，一人受伤。州长奥列格·西涅胡博夫表示，俄军还袭击了哈尔科夫市的一处平民区。

市长伊戈尔·捷列霍夫在乌克兰电视台表示，一所寄宿学校和一栋公寓楼遭到破坏。

在过去24小时内，俄军对南部城市赫尔松进行了七次炮击，击中了一处基础设施和居民楼，造成四人受伤。在第聂伯罗彼得罗夫斯克州，俄军炮击了尼科波尔和马尔哈涅茨两座城镇，这两座城镇与已关闭的扎波罗热核电站隔河相望。

另据报道，乌克兰总统泽连斯基撤换了更多州长。泽连斯基未说明理由，便解除了卢甘斯克州、敖德萨州和赫梅利尼茨基州州长的职务。

Penta Kyiv 中心分析师 Volodymyr Fesenko 表示，这些解雇“要么与工作效率低下有关，要么与对滥用职权行为的批评有关”。

Superville从华盛顿报道。Lolita C. Baldor和Tara Cop在华盛顿，以及Yuras Karmanau在爱沙尼亚塔林也对此报道做出了贡献。