series about our complex relationship with animals. the great media debate this week on b, w, ah, ah, ah, this is the that we news line from berlin, a russian war plain, collides with the u. s. surveillance drone over the black sea drone is similar to the one in these images. a russian fighter jet struck and causing the americans to bring it down in the sea. we'll have details for washington, also coming up. not far away. you crane banks, it's future on winging the battle for intense fighting has raged in the eastern

city for month with each dies suffering heavy losses, but opinion is divided over the area strategic importance. ah, i'm the call for leach. welcome to the program. we started tonight with some breaking news. a russian warplane has collided with the us drone over the black sea . washington says the incident was caused by what it is calling a reckless act by 2 russian fighter jets u. s. officials say one of the jets struck the propeller of the reaper, a drone of the type seen here and file footage, causing the drone to crash into international waters. a u. s. air force official says that the maneuver nearly caused the loss of the russian craft to get the latest from the w. corresponded mckayla cooper in washington. mikaela. tell

us what we know about this incident at this point as well. what we know from the u. s. general in charge in the region is that these fighter jets initially tried to dump fuel on this drone. and then in one of the 5 digits actually touched the drone. they're called m q 9, so called reaper drones. and as we just saw in our image there, they actually raw the lot with the size of a fighter jet. so this is something that the u. s. white house, national security communications coordinator, and john kirby here described as reckless and dangerous. he said it was not uncommon to have such intercepts, but that this was a downright dangerous and it's still unclear where the, the russians were trying to send some kind of message there. but this is something that certainly would be raised with the russians directly. so we know that the president was briefed here in the early hours of the morning after all this

happened early morning, european time. and now different levels of government here are either trying to get to clarification with moscow directly. we're still assessing the fall out from this very situation. the u. s. has been operating drones over the black. the things before the beginning of the war that intercepts are not uncommon, but how unusual is it that the u. s. and russian military would come so incredibly close to each other or unique is the word that was used by the white house spokesman don't kirby there? this hasn't happened before. and that's why all alarm bells ringing. and if this had not been a drone, if there had been a pilot inside that would have been endangering a us life, this is more than a close encounter. it is actually a collision. and the big question is, if this is intentional, would this be seen as something that amounts to an attack that sets off

a whole chain of potential reactions or all the way down the line to actually need to feeling attack. now this will not happen. the stakes are simply too high at this very moment in time, but against the backdrop of the us aggression on ukraine of actually a hot will being conducted where nato countries are supporting ukraine in that effort to defend itself. this is more than just a close encounter. this is a full out incident and we are really waiting with bated breath for a pentagon briefing to get some more details on this. both sides don't have an interest for this to escalate, but it is a very unique incident maintenance over international waters, a u. s. jerome colliding there with a russian fighter jet. president biden has of course been brief. nato's top

commander has also been informed. i know it's early days, but what's going to happen next you well, in one thing is clear that the west side is now seeking clarification from the russian side. what's behind this? and in the briefing, call where that i've just come from john co, we the national security council fossils also asked what message do you read into this is as seen as a message from the russian side. and he's basically said, why whatever the message was, it's not going to change the behavior of the united states at which it will continue to conduct any kind of missions in international airspace as it sees fit to protect its own security. so, so that is the official line there, but certainly the calls are being made and discussions are to be had behind closed doors at the diplomatic level. this is the next level. it moves to the us state

department reaching out and getting clarification from the russian side. this rings, of course, a lot of alarms around the globe does this have the potential to escalate tensions between the us and russia? yes, is the sort answer. and the situation is already very tense, actually having a direct confrontation here and makes the contact between u. s. military hardware in ukraine, with rawson fighters, russian soldiers, and russian equipment. well, it takes it quite literally to another level of having a direct us piloted drone here with actually us forces behind it or having a hostile contact because that's what it was with the russian side downing that drone. well, this could be

a misunderstanding. it could be there could be something else behind it. we simply do not know at this moment in time. but the potential for further escalation is huge. and that's why i would expect both sides to be meticulous in which messages they now send out to each other and publicly w corresponding me here lacuna in washington. thank you for the latest me while ukrainian and russian forces are both suffering heavy losses as fighting intensifies in the eastern city of back moot where some of the heaviest fighting in ukraine has taken place in the year long war president de lensky, over 9 vow to quote, destroy russia. they are saying ingrained future depends on the outcome of what happens in back mode and other key areas in the east. the relentless boom of artillery echoes across easton ukraine, across forest fields and hills. ukrainian forces of fighting to hold back

a broad wave of russian attacks. battles, a raging in many cities and villages. as moscow goes on the offensive all along the 250 kilometer front line. according to ukrainian president volota may zalinski, his country's future hinges on the outcome of these battles. does result on us would you? the situation in the east is very tough, very painful. we need to destroy the enemy's military power and we will below her if gear and muddy anchor of div kid and by mood will glinda and come younger and all other places were futures being decided and the future of all ukrainians is being fought. 4th grade in the besieged city of buck moot soldiers faced some of the bloodiest fighting since the war began. russia has been trying to capture buck most for months. so far, russian mercenaries have only managed to partially encircle the city.

moscow is now intensifying its campaign, delivering ammunition to wagner fighters, who have been spearheading the attack on buck moot. some $4000.00 residents are still in the city, according to an official tally. despite the fist fighting in and around it. ram of a russian commanders, the capture of the city represents an opportunity to finally deliver good news to the kremlin. mm hm. okay. so is president lansky right to double down on what many of you as a losing battle in battles and put that to marina moran. she's with a war studies department at kings college in london. thank you for having me. well, it's quite a difficult decision. i believe for president lansky to make, but if buck moved fold it could complex collapsing tara, the fence line of the korean forces and he had already committed so many forces

to move. meaning that now declaring that didn't really have any importance would raise the question than why holding on to both moved and why risking so many lives so many soldiers. and there have been kind of discussions between generals losing and general service gain terms of whether it makes sense to hold back move. so i think from that perspective, it's also important because in the eyes of the western supporters of ukraine, ukrainian on the losing, but mood could essentially effect as a perception and possibly a military aids that ukraine is receiving right now. so valencia wants to hold on to the mood at all costs, but if i'm understanding you correctly, this decision isn't fully backed by his military leadership. well, and a few weeks ago, the word discussions indeed because as for the military leadership, of course,

they want to preserve the lives of their troops. and so on the one hand you have this political aim to hold, but move on on. on the other hand, it would make much more sense to withdraw the troops and to save lives and to regroup, recover, and then potentially launch a counter offensive. and we've had the same situation in her song. one general, so awaken from the russian side, decided to withdraw the troops because he didn't see any point in risking more lives and losing more man power. and it was also widely criticized. but he still did redeployed the troops and they are by kind of saved a lot of good troops to be used later on in the conflict and how much potential for a wider, wider problem for the lensky this do. these divisions fell

well, i think there is a problem in terms of civil military relations and of whatever the political goal is. it has to be aligned with current military capabilities and what ukrainian armed forces can do. and asking of them sold tasks that are always stretching their capability. ukraine is also lacking ammunition. ukraine is also lacking manpower right now. so it might be a better decision to listen to the military and actually not try and sacrifice the forces which could be used elsewhere. as i said, should they retreat and give about more to russians. the same ways that the russians did in person do essentially come back to it at a later point when they are in a better shape. at, let's talk about capabilities is the ukranian army at this point equipped to defend the problem is that in order to defend but more forces need to be deployed or meaning the capable forces from either directions need to be sent to book more to

reinforce it. and then again, there is a question of how much the russians will be pushing it, because the russians right now are seemingly having the upper hand. there was, are tillery and the era support and wagner on the ground for the ukrainian forces. but more is not the only problematic location. we are seeing russian advances around the d of seeing swat to in criminal and so on. so russians are trying to always stretch the capabilities of the ukrainian forces along the entire line of contact. and so redeploying forces to buck more could potentially bring about russian advances in the directions without giving ukraine the securities that indeed this will be enough to how to rush an offensive and to save buttonwood because it will look at the map. it practically being surrounded was walking or

claiming to have taken premises on steel plants, which is similar to as you and maria will marina moran always great thing to you. thank you so much. thank you. and before we go, here's a reminder, the breaking news we're following for you at this hour. a u. s. surveillance drill like this one from fall video has been struck by a russian warplane as it was flying over the black sea. the unmanned vehicles propeller was damaged, forcing us to bring it down in international waters. ukrainian president will let him read the landscape as the future of his country hinges on the outcome of the battle for buck, mood and the surrounding area. both use grain and russia are suffering heavy losses there. describe the fighting as tough with my colleague

friend got more news at the top of the hour, including the more on the incident over the black, the. the meantime, there's always more news to be found on our website. that's d, w dot com. and you can of course, also follow on social media. our handle there is at d to lead article. really thank you so much for your company. with interest the global economy, our portfolio g w business below. here's a closer look at the project. our mission to analyze who flight for market dominance kind of stood with the w business.