US releases video of drone incident

The United States has released a de-classified video showing Russia's intercept of a US military surveillance drone downed over the Black Sea two days ago.

The White House said the images exposed how Moscow was lying about what happened.

The downing of the US MQ-9 drone on Tuesday was the first direct US-Russian incident since the Ukraine war began, worsening already tense relations between Washington and Moscow as both countries publicly traded blame.

In the video, a Russian Su-27 fighter jet can be seen coming very close to the drone and dumping fuel near it, in what US officials said was an apparent effort to damage the American aircraft as it flew. It also shows the loss of the video feed after another close Russian maneuver, which the Pentagon said resulted from a Russian jet colliding with the drone.

The video ends with images of the drone's damaged propeller, which the Pentagon said was caused by the collision, making the aircraft inoperable and leading it to crash into deep waters.

The Pentagon said the video, which is about 40 seconds long, was edited for length by the US military but shows events in sequential order.

Russia has denied US accusations that its jets acted recklessly, and instead has blamed "sharp manoeuvring" by the drone for the crash. It says its jet did not make contact.

The White House said the footage released refuted Moscow's version of events.

The incident over international waters was a reminder of the risk of direct confrontation between the United States and Russia over Ukraine, which Moscow invaded more than a year ago and which Western allies have supported with intelligence and weapons.

A US official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Russian ships had been seen near the area where the drone crashed, though they did not appear to have recovered any parts of it yet.

Pentagon spokesperson Brigadier General Patrick Ryder said there were "indications" Moscow was trying to recover debris from the MQ-9.

The release of the video followed separate calls on Wednesday between the top US general, Mark Milley, and his Russian counterpart, Chief of the General Staff Valery Gerasimov, as well as between US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin and his Russian counterpart, Sergei Shoigu.

In remarks to reporters on Wednesday, Milley said it was clear that the intercept and harassment of the drone was intentional, but it was unclear whether the Russian pilots meant to slam their aircraft into the drone - a move that could also put themselves at risk.