US military shoots down unidentified object over Canada's Yukon territory

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said he ordered the takedown of an "unidentified object" flying over Canada's Yukon territory on Saturday, Report informs via NPR.

The object was shot down by a US military fighter jet from the US and Canada's North American Aerospace Defense Command, Trudeau said.

"I spoke with President Biden this afternoon. Canadian Forces will now recover and analyze the wreckage of the object," Trudeau said. "Thank you to NORAD for keeping the watch over North America."

The two leaders approved the takedown of the object "out of an abundance of caution and at the recommendation of their militaries," the White House said.

Since NORAD detected the object over Alaska on Friday evening, North American officials had closely monitored it as it crossed into Canadian airspace on Saturday, Pentagon Press Secretary Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder said in a statement. Following the call between President Biden and Trudeau, Biden authorized the F-22 to shoot down the object with a missile in Canadian territory, Ryder said.

Canada's defense minister, Anita Anand, said the downed object was cylindrical in shape and flying at about 40,000 feet (12 km). She said it was downed in central Yukon, about 100 miles (160.9 km) from a US-Canada border.