Russia has conferred state awards on the two fighter pilots involved in the downing of a US surveillance drone that crashed into the Black Sea, the Russian Defence Ministry said, while United States officials announced that its spy flights in the region have resumed. Presenting the awards on Friday to the Su-27 jet fighter pilots, Russia's Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu lauded their achievement in preventing the drone from flying into an area near Crimea to which Moscow has banned access. "The drone flew with its transponders off, violating the boundaries of the area of the temporary airspace usage regime established for the special military operation [and] communicated to all users of international airspace," Russia's defence ministry said in a statement, according to The Moscow Times. Pro-Kremlin political analyst Sergei Markov said the awards for the pilots were "a clear sign that Russia will keep downing" US drones. "This decision will receive a strong support from the Russian society that wants the government to toughen its policy," Markov wrote in a commentary. Russia's presentation of the awards comes a day after the US military released a declassified 42-second video clip showing the Russian Su-27 fighter jets intercepting the drone and making close passes while dumping fuel in an apparent bid to damage the drone's optical and other hi-tech instruments.

Rep. Nick LaLota, R-N.Y., reacts to new video showing a Russian jet hitting a U.S. drone and weighs in on the border crisis. EXCLUSIVE: Several Republican senators are calling on Congress to exercise its oversight authority after a Russian fighter jet downed a U.S. drone over international waters earlier this week – an incident that has many worried about more direct conflict between the two superpowers as the Ukraine war enters its second year. "We need a hearing on it. We've asked the Pentagon for hearing, of course, they're probably a little bit busy right now," Sen. Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala., a member of the Armed Services Committee, told Fox News Digital this week. When asked if he was concerned about Russian officials' announcement that Moscow will try to retrieve the debris, Tuberville said, "Yeah, we should all be."

Mark Kelly, D-Ariz., weighs in on challenges Border Patrol faces as more migrants flood the southern border on'Special Report.' The crash between a Russian fighter jet and a U.S. drone likely resulted from the pilot's aggression and "incompetence," according to former astronaut and Navy captain, Sen. Mark Kelly. "Look at the level of incompetence – I mean when we saw the flanker yesterday, which basically had a midair with the MQ-9 [drone], with a reaper … I spent 15 years in the astronaut office, I used to fly with Russian fighter pilots in the backseat of my plane," Kelly, D-AZ., told Fox News chief political anchor and host of "Special Report with Brett Baier" during an interview Thursday. "The level of incompetence in the Russian pilots that I flew with was shocking to me." Russia has denied that its plane crashed into the U.S. drone despite video evidence showing the plane make at least two fly-bys, including one in which it appeared to dump fuel on the drone before the feed abruptly cut off, and the drone crashed into the Black Sea. On Friday, Russian Minister of Defense Sergei Shoigu reportedly presented the pilots responsible for crashing the drone with state awards, saying the pilots prevented the drone from "violating the boundaries of the temporary airspace regime established for the special military operation," referring to the invasion of Ukraine.

Kyiv, Ukraine – It looked like a deliberate manoeuvre by a skilled pilot that led to the first direct military clash between the United States and Russia since Moscow invaded Ukraine. Two Russian fighter jets approached a US drone flying in the cloudless, azure sky over international waters in the Black Sea on Tuesday morning. One of the Russian Su-27s released a stream of jet fuel on the MQ-9 Reaper drone, causing its cameras to shut off. Then the Su-27 hit the Reaper's propeller, causing it to tumble into the sea, the Pentagon said. It said the Reaper was a "reconnaissance drone" and carried no arms, although the unmanned aircraft with a wingspan of 26 metres (85 feet) was designed as a "hunter-killer" armed with laser-guided bombs and missiles.

Former U.S. Amb. to NATO Kurt Volker says the Russian fighter jet collision was'intentional' and requires a'firm response' from the U.S. The Russian government has awarded the pilots involved in the harassment and crash of a U.S. drone in international airspace. Russian minister of Defense Sergei Shoigu presented state awards to the fighter jet pilots responsible for downing a U.S. drone over the Black Sea earlier this week. Russian President Vladimir Putin, right, and Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu, left, attend a wreath-laying ceremony at the Eternal Flame and the Unknown Soldier's Grave in Alexander Garden during an event marking Defender of the Fatherland Day in Moscow. In an official statement, the Ministry of Defense commended the pilots for preventing the drone from "violating the boundaries of the temporary airspace regime established for the special military operation." The statement accuses the U.S. drone of flying with its transponders off.

Fox News correspondent Mike Tobin has the latest on tensions amid the Russia-Ukraine war on'Special Report.' The Russians planned the Black Sea drone attack carefully, probably for weeks. And watch out, China could try it next. As the admiral played by the late Sen. Fred D. Thompson said to Alec Baldwin's character in the classic movie "The Hunt for Red October," "The Russians don't do anything without a plan." Somebody on the Russian side thought this through.

In October last year, a Russian news site published a short video of Yevgeny Prigozhin, founder of the Wagner Group, the Russian mercenary army, sitting with four men on a rooftop terrace in the resort town of Gelendzhik, on Russia's Black Sea coast. Two are missing parts of a leg. A third lost an arm. They are identified as pardoned former convicts, returned from the front in Ukraine after joining Wagner from prison. "You were an offender, now you're a war hero," Prigozhin tells one man in the clip. It was the first video to depict the return of some of the thousands of convicts who joined Wagner in return for the promise of a pardon if they survived six months of the war. Reuters news agency used facial recognition software to examine this video and more than a dozen others and photographs of homecoming convict fighters, published between October 2022 and February 2023.

It is "highly unlikely" Russia will find anything useful if it manages to recover a U.S. surveillance drone from the deep waters of the Black Sea where it crashed earlier this week after colliding with a Russian fighter jet, the Pentagon said Thursday. Gen. Pat Ryder comes amid reports that Russia was making an effort to recover the MQ-9 Reaper drone's debris. Ryder reiterated Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Mark Milley's assertion that no sensitive material was compromised in the drone incident. "We do have indications that Russia's likely making an effort to try to recovery MQ-9 debris," Ryder said. "However, we assess it's very unlikely that they would be able to recovery anything useful, given a couple of factors."

Former U.S. Ambassador to NATO Kurt Volker says the Russian fighter jet collision was'intentional' and requires a'firm response' from the U.S. NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg has yet to comment publicly on the downing of a U.S. MQ-9 Reaper drone by two Russian SU-27 fighter jets this week, in what one NATO expert says may be an "overabundance of caution." "There should be broad condemnation of Russia's attack on the U.S. drone by all NATO Allies," Marshall Billingslea, a former deputy undersecretary of the Navy and assistant secretary general for defense investment at NATO, who is now serving as a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute, told Fox News Digital. "Many, especially those allies on the eastern front, have experience with Russian pilots engaging in aggressive and unprofessional actions." NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg speaks during the annual Society and Defence Conference in Salen, Sweden, on Jan. 8, 2023. The U.S. has accused Russia of purposefully harassing and then striking down the $32 million drone used for intelligence collecting.

U.S. CENTCOM Commander Gen. Michael Kurilla told senators Thursday that the Pentagon has seen an "increase recently in the unprofessional and unsafe behavior of the Russian Air Force." U.S. Central Command has seen more "unprofessional" and "unsafe" behavior from Russian pilots in Syria since March 1, a commander said Thursday. Gen. Michael Kurilla explained the ongoing harassment of U.S. forces in the region at a meeting of the Senate Committee on Armed Services. Gen. Michael Kurilla testifies during his Senate Armed Services Committee confirmation hearing in 2022. "What we are seeing, though, is an increase recently in the unprofessional and unsafe behavior of the Russian Air Force in the region," Kurilla stated.