By Camerron Martin
The war between Russia and Ukraine has put a lot of tension in the rest of the world and anymore it seems that the most minor incidents in relation to either country make a lot of people feel very uneasy. Therefore it’s no secret that a United States drone being flone through the area was intercepted by Russian fighter jets and forced to crash into the Black Sea.
The incident happened on Tuesday, Mar. 14 when an unmanned MQ-9 Reaper drone which was being flone remotely by U.S. pilots came into contact with two Russian Su-27 fighter jets that had decided to engage with the drone arguing that it was violating their airspace. American officials, however, stated that the drone was in fact flying through international airspace and called the attack on the drone unjustified.
MQ-9 Reaper drones are a type of unmanned survivance aircraft that is capable of being flown remotely for great distances in order to provide airborne recon of large areas. Since the start of the war in the Ukraine the allies of the country, which includes the United States, have done what they can to aid the country’s efforts to repel the Russian invasion led by President Vladimir Putin which consists of a lot of surveillance operations such as the one our military was conducting.
As the encounter took place the two Russian jets moved in to intercept the drone which they reportedly did so in an unprofessional manner as they had dumped portions of their fuel on the aircraft as well as coming close enough to the drone and causing a small collision with it at one point which caused its pilots to rule the drone as lost cause as they looked to find a place to bring it down into the waters of the Black Sea. United States officials stated that the attack, whether it was intentional or not, caused the drone to be made a total loss as it can not be recovered from the crash site.
This event has caused a lot of tension between the United States and Russia, as well as its citizens who are worried that the conflict could move out of the Ukraine specifically and go abroad, should tensions continue to rise. Russia’s leaders have already threatened those who choose to ally themselves with the Ukraine and aid them in their war effort going as far as threatening nations with nuclear options in order to keep their hold on the country without outside interference. Some view the incident as a test of what the United States might do in return should they continue to push their luck at large.
The possibility of the conflict growing into the possibility of a third world war has been on the table since the beginning of the invasion should Ukraine’s allies and N.A.T.O get more heavily involved in stopping Russia’s forces and with incidents such as this becoming more and more of a possibility it leaves much thinking of what might come next for everyone. Should Russia continue to poke at not just the United States, but at other countries as well it could lead to greater consequences for all parties involved. With Russia threatening any allies of the Ukraine with nuclear threats more often in the recent months it has put all sides in a tense position. Many view the conflict as something sitting on a very unstable point and with just the slightest push here and there people worldwide could end up watching it all finally tip over and escalate into a much larger conflict.
The future of the Russian and Ukraine conflict is unknown as it can go in any direction and with it, the rest of the world could follow suit in any way, and that has caused a lot of people to end up on edge as they are uncertain if themselves or their friends and families will end up a part of the conflict should it go global. Russia has definitely begun to up its violence toward the Ukraine and toward the rest of the world as well in order to prevent the Ukraine from winning the war.r However, through these increased attacks on its rivals Russia could very well be creating a much larger conflict that will undoubtedly extract a heavy toll on the rest of the world to some extreme.
