Media: U.S surveillance drone conducted aerial reconnaissance near the Crimea
The RQ-4 Global Hawk strategic unmanned surveillance aircraft of the US Air Force has conducted a reconnaissance flight near the Crimea. It approached the peninsula from the side of Ukraine and the Black Sea. This was reported by Interfax news agency with reference to portals that track the movement of military aviation.
According to the media, the unmanned aircraft departed from the Sigonella airbase in Sicily and flew to the Crimea from the western side of the Black Sea at an altitude of 15,500 meters. It then entered Ukrainian airspace off the coast of the Mykolaiv region, and continued its flight eastwards from Kherson to Melitopol, conducting its reconnaissance flight to the north of the peninsula.
Considering that reconnaissance could be conducted up to a distance of 300 kilometers, the RQ-4 Global Hawk was able to monitor the Donbas from the Melitopol region. According to available information, while flying 15 kilometers north of Melitopol, the aircraft approached the demarcation line near Donetsk at a distance of 217 kilometers.
Since January 2015, US strategic drones have been regularly conducting flights in the Black Sea region.