Current:Home > Contact-usRubio says Russian jet collision with U.S. drone was "deliberate effort" and "direct test" of Biden administration-LoTradeCoin
Rubio says Russian jet collision with U.S. drone was "deliberate effort" and "direct test" of Biden administration
View Date:2024-12-23 16:48:03
Republican Sen. Marco Rubio, vice chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, said Thursday that the recent Russian jet collision with a U.S. drone was a "deliberate effort" by Russia, which is testing boundaries with the United States.
"This wasn't some accident. It wasn't some harassment effort that, you know, went awry," Rubio said on "CBS Mornings."
"This is a direct test of the Biden administration," he said. "They're trying to see what the limits are, and it's a message of their displeasure. But more importantly, I think it's a test to see if we'll respond to it, if we'll continue to fly or if this causes us not to fly in that area anymore."
Rubio said the U.S. should not be cowed and should continue to send aircraft into the area.
"I think our response would be to fly more of these in that area and potentially have them escorted by U.S. fighter jets, who are manned and have the capability to respond," Rubio said, adding that flying unmanned drones for surveillance and reconnaissance purposes is "totally" in accordance with international law. "I think we should fly more of them, we shouldn't stop flying them and in many cases we should be prepared to scramble jets and respond if they are threatened by Russian aircraft."
Video of the incident, released Thursday morning, shows an unmanned $30 million MQ-9 "Reaper" drone flying over the Black Sea, close to Ukraine. The drone was conducting an intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance mission in international airspace above international waters, U.S. officials said earlier this week. The video, released by the Pentagon, shows a fighter jet pass at close range before making another pass during which it allegedly hit the drone's propeller.
The Russian jet "dumped fuel upon and struck the propeller of the MQ-9, causing U.S. forces to have to bring the MQ-9 down in international waters," the Air Force said in a statement accompanying the video.
The drone was crashed into the Black Sea by the U.S. and sensitive data was wiped from the device, according to U.S. officials. Rubio said that while the airspace and the waters it is above are considered international, Russia had declared the airspace restricted.
Rubio also addressed comments from his state's governor, Republican Ron DeSantis, who recently called the war between Russia and Ukraine a "territorial dispute" and not one of the United States' "vital national interests."
The U.S. has to continue to stand with Ukraine, Rubio said, to maintain its position on the global stage.
"Ukraine is not the most important national security issue facing America, but it's not unimportant. There is a vital interest involved here, and one of them is that we haven't just invested money in Ukraine, we've invested our prestige and our credibility," Rubio said. "The argument that the Chinese are making is that the West is in terminal decline, the United States is a rapidly-declining, once-great superpower, and they're not going to do anything, they're not going to take on China."
"If we were to cut and run now, if we were to walk away from our commitment to Ukraine, the Chinese would point to that and say to our allies, 'How are you going to count on the United States? They're not going to be there. They abandoned Afghanistan chaotically and they ... couldn't sustain an effort in Ukraine against Russia,'" Rubio continued.
Instead, he said, the United States should continue to provide Ukraine with necessary aid. It's also important, Rubio said, to get "rich countries like Germany to do more" and "do their part" to aid Ukraine, and make sure no money is misspent.
"I don't think our interest there is zero, and so our effort there should not be zero either," Rubio said.
- In:
- Biden Administration
- War
- Marco Rubio
- Ukraine
- Politics
- Russia
- Black Sea
- Drone
Kerry Breen is a news editor and reporter for CBS News. Her reporting focuses on current events, breaking news and substance use.
veryGood! (939)
Related
- Fantasy football Week 11: Trade value chart and rest of season rankings
- Appeals court casts doubt on Biden administration rule to curb use of handgun stabilizing braces
- Watch: Georgia sheriff escorts daughter of fallen deputy to first day of kindergarten
- How the Trump fake electors scheme became a ‘corrupt plan,’ according to the indictment
- Cruise ship rescues 4 from disabled catamaran hundreds of miles off Bermuda, officials say
- Malala Yousafzai and husband join Barbie craze: This Barbie has a Nobel Prize. He's just Ken
- FBI: Over 200 sex trafficking victims, including 59 missing children, found in nationwide operation
- The hottest July: Inside Phoenix's brutal 31 days of 110-degree heat
- Quincy Jones laid to rest at private family funeral in Los Angeles
- Louisiana education officials note post-pandemic improvement in LEAP test scores
Ranking
- Arizona Supreme Court declines emergency request to extend ballot ‘curing’ deadline
- Fitch downgrades U.S. debt, citing political deterioration
- Appeals court reinstates lawsuit by Honduran woman who says ICE agent repeatedly raped her
- Transgender rights targeted in executive order signed by Oklahoma governor
- The Daily Money: Inflation is still a thing
- Kendall Jenner Rocks Sexy Sheer Ensemble for Her Latest Date Night With Bad Bunny
- Wilt Chamberlain’s 1972 finals jersey expected to draw more than $4 million at Sotheby’s auction
- PGA Tour adds Tiger Woods to policy board in response to player demands
Recommendation
-
Historian Doris Kearns Goodwin to kick off fundraising effort for Ohio women’s suffrage monument
-
Cancer risk can lurk in our genes. So why don't more people get tested?
-
New York attorney general's Trump lawsuit ready for trial, her office says
-
Study of Ohio’s largest rivers shows great improvement since 1980s, officials say
-
Voters in Oakland oust Mayor Sheng Thao just 2 years into her term
-
Pee-wee Herman and the complications of talking about people after they die
-
'This Fool' is an odd-couple comedy with L.A. flair
-
Utah law requiring age verification for porn sites remains in effect after judge tosses lawsuit