Large aircraft take a while to avoid collisions due to their size and both jets are in motion. So this could have been within 5-10 seconds of a collision depending on specifics. The critical issue is the civilian aircraft “took evasive action on Friday to avoid a mid-air collision with a U.S. Air Force tanker plane near Venezuela, a pilot said in an air traffic control recording.”

Which needs to be reported as it then can impact other air traffic to avoid further issues.

If both craft took the same evasive action? Still could be a collison. A few seconds is so little to play with.