The United States take the necessary measures to prevent the drone shot down over the Black Sea from getting into the hands of Russians — CNN citing National Security Council spokesman John Kirby

The US Department of Defence is currently working to declassify imagery from the incident. It reports that the Russians have not yet recovered the downed drone.

Kirby said that it is "not uncommon" for Russian aircraft to intercept US drones over the Black Sea and that there had been other interceptions in recent weeks.

But, according to Kirby, the situation on 14 March is unique because of how "unsafe, unprofessional, and reckless" Russia's actions were.

The US also rejects Russia's denial of responsibility. Earlier, the Russian ambassador to the US said that Russia had informed that it had recognised the area as a zone of so-called "special military operation." The US says the incident took place in international airspace.