Russia urges U.S. to stop 'hostile' flights after drone crash

Russia's campaign in Ukraine has led to heightened fears of a direct confrontation between Moscow and the NATO alliance, which has been arming Kyiv to help it defend itself.

Moscow warned against "hostile" U.S. flights on Wednesday, as tensions simmered after a Russian fighter jet was accused of colliding with an American drone over the Black Sea.

Though Russia has denied its Su-27 plane clipped the propeller of an unmanned Reaper drone, Kyiv said the incident over international waters was a Kremlin attempt to widen the Ukraine conflict.

The crash on Tuesday, which Washington called the fault of reckless and unprofessional conduct, added fresh tensions between Moscow and Western allies.

"We assume that the United States will refrain from further speculation in the media and stop flights near Russian borders," Russia's ambassador to Washington, Anatoly Antonov, said Wednesday.

"We consider any action with the use of U.S. weaponry as openly hostile," he wrote on social media channel Telegram.

Russia's defence ministry said Tuesday it scrambled fighter jets following the detection of a U.S. drone over the Black Sea and denied causing the crash.

The Pentagon said its drone was on a routine mission when it was intercepted "in a reckless, environmentally unsound and unprofessional manner,", while Russia countered the aircraft was out of control and said its jets had no contact with it.