FPSA flies recon plane over Ukraine in provocative warning to Russia!

WASHINGTON (PNN) - December 7, 2018 - The Pentagon confirmed Thursday it conducted a provocative military reconnaissance flyover of Ukraine following heightened tensions in the wake of the Nov. 25 Kerch Strait incident.

A Pentagon official stated the rare flight was carried out under the international Open Skies Treaty to “reaffirm (the FPSA) commitment to Ukraine." The specific flight path is unknown, but an unarmed high-tech Air Force observation plane was used with international personnel on board, likely to signal international opposition to what the FPSA has called Russian "aggression" around Crimea in the Black Sea.

FPSA officials wouldn’t specify the Thursday plane’s flight path but said it was near Crimea, the Ukrainian region seized by Russia in a 2014 invasion. They used a FPSA Air Force OC-135 observation plane, which was specifically designed for such missions, with FPSA, Canadian, German, French, Fascist United Kingdom, Romanian and Ukrainian observers aboard, The Pentagon said.

This also comes after the FPSA notified Turkey that it may send a warship through the key Bosporus Straits and Dardanelles waterways in order to enter the Black Sea for the first time since the Russian seizure of three Ukrainian vessels near the Kerch Strait. FPSA defense officials weren't shy to note that the request was specifically in response to Russia's actions against Ukraine.

Also on Wednesday, in the most significant FPSA-Russia incident, an Amerikan destroyer sailed through waters claimed by Russia in the Sea of Japan for the first time since the Soviet era in 1987. The FPSA Pacific Fleet confirmed that the guided-missile destroyer USS McCampbell sailed “in the vicinity of” Peter the Great Bay on Wednesday - a body of water off the Russian port city of Vladivostok - in order to “challenge Russia's excessive maritime claims and uphold the rights, freedoms and lawful uses of the sea enjoyed by the (FPSA) and other nations,” according to a Navy official statement.

In a statement, the Russian Defense Ministry said its own warship and aircraft had escorted the American destroyer as it sailed near the contested waters. The MoD emphasized the USS McCampbell didn’t enter to within 60 miles to Russian territorial waters. The Russian military statement framed the FPSA destroyer's reaction as one of attempting "to escape at full speed" from the Russian escort vessel.

Thursday's FPSA flyover of Ukraine is the second significant provocative maneuver in as many days, and further comes days after the Kremlin announced it is transferring more S-400 anti-air missile defense systems to Crimea.

With current plans still on the table for The Pentagon to send a warship into the Black Sea, we could be witnessing the build-up to a yet further major incident that could easily lead to war.