Russia will attempt to retrieve and study the wreckage of the American MQ-9 drone that crashed into the Black Sea after being harassed by Russian fighter jets.
Nikolai Patrushev, secretary of the Russian Security Council, told Rossiya-1 TV on Wednesday that he was not sure the drone could be extricated from the water.
"I hope, of course, for success," he said. "The Americans keep saying that they are not participating in hostilities. This is yet another confirmation that they are directly involved in these events, in the war."
Gen. Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said at a Pentagon briefing that the drone sank into water that's 4,000-5,000 feet deep, making its recovery very difficult.
"It probably broke up. There's probably not much to recover,'' Milley said. "As far as the loss of anything of sensitive intelligence, etc., as normal we would take and we did take mitigating measures, so we're quite confident that whatever was of value is no longer of value.''
Two Russian SU-27 fighters intercepted the drone Tuesday, dumping fuel on it, flying in front of it, and demonstrating a "lack of competence," according to a statement from U.S. European Command. U.S. officials said that one of the fighters clipped the propeller of the drone, forcing U.S. operators to bring it down in international waters.
The Russian Defense Ministry said its fighter jets were trying to identify the "intruder" when the drone's abrupt maneuvering caused it to crash.