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Yes, https://defence-ua.com is an Ukrainian website.But there are certain details in this video that allow us to localize the place of events.
In particular, the coastline was captured in the video.
Thanks to the Google Earth service,
it is possible to compare the terrain and establish that it is most likely the area southwest of Sevastopol.
What is indicated by the reflection from the water surface of the Chornorichen Reservoir and the top of the Crimean Mountains.
In this way, the American drone really came close to the base of the Russian Federation,
while it could conduct optical reconnaissance thanks to the cameras.
Not only the main naval base of the Rashtites,
but also air bases near Sevastopol, in particular Belbek, were in the drone's field of vision.
As noted in the USA, the MQ-9 Reaper was in neutral airspace, that is, at least 22 km from the coastline.
At the same time, even if the drone crossed the border, it would be the border of Ukraine.
March 21, 2023, 6:21 p.m. ETMarch 21, 2023
March 21, 2023
Radio intercepts capture Russia’s real-time hunt for the U.S. drone downed in the Black Sea.
Audio recordings obtained by The New York Times
appear to capture Russian military efforts
to retrieve debris of the U.S. surveillance drone downed in the Black Sea last week.
The intercepts, recorded by radio hobbyists who were monitoring publicly accessible airwaves last Tuesday,
begin about eight hours after
the MQ-9 Reaper drone
encountered two Russian warplanes
in the first recorded physical clash between Russia and the U.S.
since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine last year.
The exchanges provide an unusual, unfiltered window into wartime communications among Russian military personnel.
The audio recordings,
which are fragments of chatter that took place over a span of nearly four hours,
captured conversations between crew members of multiple ships and aircraft at the crash site.
Using call signs, the voices coordinate efforts to retrieve objects from the water,
including parts of an engine’s casing, nose, wing and gas tank.
There’s also a recurring series of transmissions about the vessels’ declining fuel reserves
and concerns about whether they will have enough to make it back to shore.
Several vessels eventually return to piers in Sevastopol,
with one crew member indicating that he is passing by an area called Striletska Bay.
These details help verify that these units are operating near the crash site.
There is no indication that particularly sensitive U.S. technology is recovered,
but the intercepts are rife with audio interference and military code words
that make them sometimes difficult to understand.
The Pentagon said that, after the drone was damaged,
it took steps to prevent foreign forces from obtaining useful intelligence
should it be found or recovered.
“Whatever is left of that that’s floating will probably be flight control surfaces, that kind of thing
— probably nothing of real intrinsic value to them in terms of re-engineering or anything like that,”
John F. Kirby, a National Security Council spokesman,
said during an interview with CNN last Thursday.
“We’re not overly concerned about whatever they might get their hands on.”
A statement from Russia’s Ministry of Defense on Friday said
two fighter pilots had been honored with state awards
for preventing the U.S. drone from entering Russian airspace.
It claimed that there was no physical contact between the aircraft,
and that “quick maneuvering” caused the drone
to fall into “unguided flight with a loss of altitude” and eventually crash into the sea.
That contradicted the U.S. government’s version of events,
which claimed that a Russian jet rammed the drone and damaged its propeller.
The audio recordings indicate
that some in the Russian military continue to use open, unencrypted radio channels for operational communications in Ukraine,
as The Times previously has reported.
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