British Surveillance Aircraft Nearly Shot Down By Russia Last Year

A UK RC-135 reconnaissance plane was nearly shot down by a Russian fighter jet in the fall of 2022, The Washington Post reports citing leaked Pentagon documents.

The incident took place on September 29 last year, off the coast of Crimea, the newspaper said on Sunday, adding that a classified document refers to the incident as a "near-shoot down of UK RJ (Rivet Joint, or RC-135)."

According to The Washington Post, the incident could have drawn the United States and its NATO allies "directly" into the Ukraine war.

In March, a US MQ-9 Reaper drone crashed in the Black Sea after Russian fighter jets were sent to intercept the aircraft. The Russian Defense Ministry maintains that the drone crashed after sharp maneuvering, while the US accuses one of the Russian jets of striking the drone's propeller.

The Russian Foreign Ministry has repeatedly said that Russia was alarmed by the situation in the Black Sea due to the ongoing provocations of the United States and NATO.