A serious incident in Black Sea
Javad Mohammad Ali
Staff writer
In a serious incident, a large US surveillance drone crashed over the Black Sea amid heightened tensions between Moscow and Washington over the war in Ukraine. US and Russian officials have given conflicting accounts of the incident. The US has blamed Russia for the drone crash while Russia has denied the accusations.
Washington has claimed that a Russian fighter jet collided with the drone near Crimea in the Black Sea, causing it to crash in a rare military encounter between the two foes. The US stresses that its drone had been operating over international waters. On the other side, Russian officials say the crash was the result of sharp maneuver by the drone.
The incident is the most serious escalation in the already tense relations between the two countries since the beginning of Russia’s military operation in Ukraine last year.
But flight of the surveillance drones near a war-hit region raises questions about US goals behind such moves.
Since the beginning of war in Ukraine, Washington has been the main supporter of Kyiv and has provided the country with the military equipment to counter Russia. The US has also provided the Ukrainian military with intelligence.
Given such supports, the US has, in fact, indirectly entered the war with its foe and has increased the possibility of further encounters between the two countries. The supports, especially the military ones for Ukraine, indicate that Washington does not seek to help Kyiv and Moscow to resolve their differences and end the conflict. As the NATO head, the US is also calling on the European members of the alliance to further ship weapons to Ukraine, a move that has faced fierce criticism from the public opinion in many European countries.
In fact, the main reason behind the war in Ukraine has been the NATO’s eastward expansionism. Russia had repeatedly warned the West about the issue. But the alliance, led by the US, turned a deaf ear to the Russian demands and continued its expansionism towards the Russian borders, the issue that triggered the ongoing war in Ukraine. The history has shown that US officials have paid no heed to people’s lives and have instead supported and triggered the conflicts to achieve their goals. The Ukrainian people are now the new victims of US policies.