Trudeau says US shot down unidentified object over Canada

An American F-22 fighter shot down an unidentified object over Canada on Saturday, its origin is not named, transmits Reuters, citing statements by Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and the Pentagon.

According to Pentagon spokesman Patrick Ryden, the object was shot down by an American F-22 fighter at the decision of the US and Canadian authorities: President Joe Biden, after a telephone conversation with Trudeau, authorized the military to cooperate with a neighboring country.

“I ordered the downing of an unidentified object that violated Canadian airspace. The North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) shot down this object over the Yukon. US and Canadian aircraft were lifted into the air, and the American F-22 successfully hit the target, ” says also in Trudeau’s statement (quoted by RIA Novosti).

He added that the authorities intend to study the wreckage of the object.

Canadian Defense Minister Anita Anand declined to speculate about the origin of the object, which she said was cylindrical and smaller than a Chinese balloon shot down earlier in the United States, Reuters writes. According to her, he was at an altitude of 12,200 m and posed a danger to civil air traffic.

february 4 chinese hot air balloon was shot down over the Atlantic Ocean, about 19 km from the coast of North Carolina. After that, the Chinese Foreign Ministry said that Washington’s decision to shoot down the balloon caused damage to relations between the two countries. Beijing strongly protested and urged to avoid further actions that escalate tension and damage China’s interests. Washington believes that the balloon was engaged in “observation of strategic objects.” His route lay near the positions of intercontinental ballistic missiles and the air base of strategic bombers. The Chinese side claims that the balloon was a meteorological probe.

Another unidentified US object was destroyed on February 10 over Alaska near the Canadian border, Reuters reported. Its wreckage, officials said, would be much easier to retrieve from the ice than a destroyed Chinese balloon, parts of which sank into the ocean.