The rare Pentagon move came a day after US and Russian defence ministers and military chiefs held phone conversations over the incident, in which the MQ-9 Reaper drone crashed into the Black Sea while on a reconnaissance mission in international airspace.

In the declassified, roughly 40-second video, a Russian Su-27 fighter jet comes very close to the drone and dumps liquid near it, in what US officials say was an apparent effort to damage the American aircraft as it flew over the Black Sea.

It also shows the loss of the video feed after a second pass by a Russian jet, which the Pentagon says resulted from its collision with the drone. The video ends with images of the drone’s damaged propeller, which the Pentagon says resulted from the collision, making the aircraft inoperable.

Russia has denied any collision and said the drone crashed after making “sharp manoeuvres”, having “provocatively” flown close to Russian airspace near Crimea, which Moscow forcibly annexed from Ukraine in 2014.

“There is a pattern of behaviour recently where there is a little bit more aggressive actions being conducted by the Russians,” General Mark Milley, chairperson of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff said on Wednesday, adding it was unclear whether the Russian pilots had intended to strike the drone.

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Russian defence minister Sergei Shoigu told his US counterpart that American drone flights near Crimea’s coast “were provocative in nature” and could lead to “an escalation… in the Black Sea zone”, the ministry said.

Joint responsibility

Russia, it said, had “no interest” in escalation “but will in future react in due proportion” and the two countries should “act with a maximum of responsibility”, including by having military lines of communication in a crisis.

US defence secretary Lloyd Austin declined to offer any details about his conversation with Shoigu, including whether he criticised the Russian intercept.

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However, Austin added: “The United States will continue to fly and to operate wherever international law allows. And it is incumbent on Russia to operate its military aircraft in a safe and professional manner.”

The incident has been a reminder of the dangers of direct confrontation between the US and Russia over Ukraine, which Western allies are supporting with intelligence and weapons. Reuters/DM

By Phil Stewart, Idrees Ali and Olena Harmash

(Reporting by Reuters bureaux; Writing by Cynthia Osterman, Lincoln Feast and Gareth Jones; Editing by Gerry Doyle and Frank Jack Daniel)