Ukraine news latest — Shameless Putin hails reckless Russian fighter pilots who downed US drone for their ‘courage’

RUSSIAN fighter pilots Sergey Popov and Vasily Vavilov were awarded the Orders of Courage by Vladimir Putin’s defence minister Sergei Shoigu for the downing of the American MQ-9 Reaper drone. The unarmed US drone had its tail propeller struck by the Russian fighter jet – a move seen as a “brazen violation of international law” by America while Russia portrays its pilots as heroes. Russian Ambassador to the US, Anatoly Antonov, said: ”The aircraft was flying with its transponders off, and it entered the zone of the special military operation.  “It [the information about the zone] was made public via international channels. We, Russia, have warned everyone about it. I think this was a real provocation.” The Russian pilots were portrayed as “professional” and hailed for their “courage.” Read our Ukraine war blog below for the latest news…