ATHENS: Greece’s military on Friday (May 8) examined a sea drone found by fishermen off the Ionian island of Lefkada, the coastguard said, with media suggesting it is Ukraine-made.
“After being alerted by the fisherman, a coast guard patrol vessel recovered this drone before handing it over to the defence ministry,” a coastguard source told AFP.
According to a former vice admiral who spoke to state TV ERT, the black drone is similar to ones used by Ukraine.
“It has all the features that constitute a military drone for military use,” Stelios Fenekos, a retired vice admiral, told ERT.
Fenekos said the drone had “design similarities” with Ukraine’s Magura-class unmanned surface vehicles.
A Greek defence ministry source said the military was investigating.
Greek outlet newsit said the fishermen found the drone early Thursday southwest of Lefkada with its engine still running, and towed it to the nearest port.
The Magura drone has been used against Russian ships in the Crimea.
In December, Kiyv said it had hit a Russian “shadow fleet” tanker with aerial drones in the Mediterranean, its first strike in the neutral sea in the nearly four-year war.
A Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) source said the strike was a “new, unprecedented special operation” — Kyiv’s first in the Mediterranean, carried out around 2,000 kilometres (1,250 miles) from the country’s borders.
It claimed the tanker, the QENDIL, had “sustained critical damage”.