Tensions are not falling between Washington and Moscow. Russia has said it wants to fish out the American Reaper MQ-9 drone which it is accused of having crashed in the Black Sea on Tuesday, and which according to it proves the direct involvement of the United States in the operations in Ukraine.
According to the United States, the aircraft fell in international waters after being hit by a Russian fighter. The Russian government admits the interception of the drone by its fighter planes but denies any contact that would have led to the crash. Russia argues that the drone had entered, off the Crimean peninsula annexed in 2014, a no-fly zone that it itself decreed for its operation in Ukraine. Follow our live.
Washington is investigating. US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin assured on Wednesday that the United States would continue to fly “where permitted by international law”, while Washington said it was investigating Moscow’s motives in the incident. A White House spokesman, John Kirby, also told CNN that the United States had “take action” to ensure that the drone or its equipment cannot fall into enemy hands.
Russian attacks “repelled” near Bakhmout. In the east of the country, Russian forces are notably still storming the small town of Bakhmout, which the Ukrainians have been defending fiercely for months, the Ukrainian army said in its daily report. “Our defenders repelled enemy attacks near the villages of Orikhovo-Vasylivka and Bogdanivka”she added.
France is renewing its military arsenal. The 30 Caesar guns ceded to Ukraine by France will be replaced by March 2024 in the stocks of the French Army, announced the French Minister for the Armed Forces Sébastien Lecornu on Wednesday.