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US still unaware what flying objects it shot down in recent days — White House

At the end of January, the US detected a Chinese balloon over the contiguous part of the country flying at a height that considerably exceeded the standard altitude used by commercial airlines

NEW YORK, February 13. /TASS/. The US hasn’t been able yet to identify what flying objects it shot down in recent days because it hasn’t examined the debris, US National Security Council coordinator for Strategic Communications John Kirby said on MSNBC television.

"Truth is we haven't been able to gain access to the three that were shot down Friday, Saturday and yesterday, in large part because of weather conditions. The third one was shot down yesterday over Lake Huron, so it’s underwater," he said.

"There could be completely benign and totally explainable reasons for why these objects are flying around up there," he added.

At the end of January the US detected a Chinese balloon over the contiguous part of the country flying at a height that considerably exceeded the standard altitude used by commercial airlines. The balloon didn’t pose a threat for people on the ground. The US Air Force shot down the balloon within its airspace. The Pentagon said the balloon was gathering important data.

The North American Aerospace Defense Command registered three more unidentified objects last week, and two of them were then shot down over the US, and the third one over Canada. The three objects were reported to be much smaller than the Chinese balloon, flew at a lower altitude and didn’t bear a resemblance to it. The last of them was shot down over Lake Huron on the border between the US and Canada, and its debris are thought to have fallen in Canadian waters.

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