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US reconnaissance aircraft patrolling skies over Donbass — Flightradar service

It is reported that this unmanned aerial vehicle took off from an airfield on Dalma Island in the United Arab Emirates towards Ukraine

KIEV, January 21. /TASS/. At least one drone and an aircraft of the US strategic reconnaissance aviation performed flights over Ukrainian territory near the area of the armed conflict in Donbass on Friday, according to data from the Flightradar global flight tracking service.

The tracking service shows that an aerial vehicle codenamed UAVGH000 performed a flight over Ukraine on January 21. There is no data on it on Flightradar’s website. However, the service’s records indicate that a US RQ-4A Global Hawk strategic reconnaissance drone with this number has performed flights. The drone is capable of carrying out an air patrol at an altitude of up to 20 km for 30 hours.

According to the Flightradar data, this unmanned aerial vehicle took off from an airfield on Dalma Island in the United Arab Emirates towards Ukraine. After entering Ukrainian airspace, it first performed flights along Ukraine’s border with Belarus and then in the Donbass conflict area.

Also, a US Boeing RC-135W Rivet Joint strategic reconnaissance plane performed flights over Ukraine’s southern and eastern regions on Friday. As the Flightradar data shows, this aircraft was stationed at Great Yarmouth Air Base in eastern England lately and took off from UK territory towards Ukraine. It performed flights over Ukraine’s southern regions, along with the border with Crimea and subsequently along the Donbass conflict area. The aircraft headed off to its home air station after accomplishing its mission.

The West and Kiev have recently been spreading allegations about Russia’s potential ‘invasion’ of Ukraine. Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov castigated these claims as "empty and unfounded," serving as a ploy to escalate tensions, pointing out that Russia did not pose any threat whatsoever to anyone. However, Peskov did not rule out the possibility of provocations aimed at justifying such allegations and warned that attempts to use military force to resolve the crisis in southeastern Ukraine would have very serious consequences. He also said that Moscow was making all possible efforts to help Kiev settle the Donbass conflict while remaining committed to the Normandy format and the Minsk Package of Agreements.

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