A U.S. Air Force OC-135 observation plane, which was specifically designed for so-called Open Skies missions like the one carried out over Ukraine on Thursday. Photo: Charles J. Haymond/U.S. Air Force
WSJ: U.S. Military Plane Flies Over Ukraine in Warning to Russia
Pentagon says flight reaffirms its commitment to Ukraine amid tensions with Russia
WASHINGTON—The Pentagon said Thursday that it carried out a rare flight over Ukraine under the international Open Skies Treaty to “reaffirm U.S. commitment to Ukraine" amid heightened Russia-Ukraine tensions.
It was the second such U.S. military gesture in two days after Russia last month shot at and seized three Ukrainian naval vessels and their crew members off Crimea. The U.S. Navy on Wednesday sent a warship through the Sea of Japan in a rare challenge to Russia’s maritime claims in international waters.
“Russia’s unprovoked attack on Ukrainian naval vessels in the Black Sea near the Kerch Strait is a dangerous escalation in a pattern of increasingly provocative and threatening activity,” the Pentagon said in a statement. “The United States seeks a better relationship with Russia, but this cannot happen while its unlawful and destabilizing actions continue in Ukraine and elsewhere.”
Russia has claimed the ships trespassed into Russian territorial waters.
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WNU Editor: It is going to take more than flying one military aircraft over Ukraine to get Russia's attention.
