Russia’s defense ministry said on Tuesday that its fighter jets did not make contact with a US MQ-9 Reaper drone that crashed in the Black Sea, instead saying the drone crashed due to “sudden maneuvers”, Reuters reported.

“The Russian fighters did not use airborne weapons, did not make contact with the UAV and safely returned to their airfield,” the Ministry of Defense reported.

According to the defense minister, the American drone went into an uncontrolled flight with a loss of altitude and collided with the surface of the water as a result of a sudden maneuver.

The US announced on Tuesday that a US Air Force MQ-9 Reaper Russian fighter jet had crashed over the Black Sea on Tuesday.

As a result, the United States said it would summon Russia’s ambassador to Washington on Tuesday, State Department spokesman Ned Price said, according to Reuters.

The Pentagon, for its part, said that the incident would also have caused damage to the Russian plane.

National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said that the US will continue to operate in the Black Sea and will not be hindered by Russian interception.

“If the message is that they want to prevent or deter us from flying and operating in the international airspace over the Black Sea, then that message fails because that’s not going to happen,” said John Kirby, strategic communications coordinator for Homeland Security. council.