The drone came close to the frontline in Donbas but didn’t cross over to the militant-controlled territory

Open source

A drone of the American military RQ-4A Global Hawk conducted a surveillance flight over Ukraine, according to the data of Flightradar24.

The drone flew over Vinnytsia, Kirovohrad, Dnipropetrovsk, Zaporizhia, Kherson, and Odesa regions. The drone came close to the frontline in Donbas but didn’t cross over to the militant-controlled territory.

The flight was operated 16 km above-ground. RQ-4A Global Hawk can conduct surveillance from the distance of 300 km, so it’s able to monitor the situation on the militant-controlled territory and Russian border.

This drone is the most expensive of its class. It costs over $200 million, and one hour of the flight is worth $31.000. Since the beginning of 2018, it’s the second time that the drone appears over Ukrainian territory. The first flight took place on Jan. 1.

Previously another American drone, Lockheed EP-3 Aries II, surveilled the situation near the shore of the occupied Crimea.