BRUSSELS/ATHENS – A high-stakes security incident is sending ripples across the European Union after Greece’s top defense official confirmed Tuesday that an explosive-laden maritime drone discovered last week on a Greek Ionian island was constructed in Ukraine, framing the occurrence as a severe risk to Mediterranean shipping and regional safety.
The unusual find first came to light on May 7, when a local fisherman working off the coast of Lefkada, a popular tourist destination off western Greece’s mainland, spotted the unmanned surface vehicle (USV) tucked inside a remote coastal cave. The fisherman towed the unmarked craft to a nearby harbor, and Greek authorities moved it to a mainland naval facility for forensic examination the following day, before safely disposing of the explosives it carried, according to Greece’s state-owned public broadcaster ERT.
Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of a EU defense ministerial gathering in Brussels, Greek Defense Minister Nikos Dendias confirmed the preliminary findings of the inspection. “We have certainty now that it is a Ukrainian USV,” Dendias said, adding that the incident poses an unacceptable threat to both the freedom and security of Mediterranean navigation. “This is an extremely serious issue,” he emphasized. Dendias announced plans to formally bring the issue before his EU counterparts and raise it directly with Ukrainian officials, who had not issued any immediate response to requests for comment as of Tuesday.
Independent naval experts in Greece have noted that the recovered drone’s physical specifications closely match the Magura-class USV, a design developed and manufactured by Ukraine’s domestic intelligence service. Kyiv has already deployed these types of sea drones extensively in its ongoing conflict with Russia, using them to target Russian naval assets in the Black Sea and, in more recent operations, attack empty tankers moving Russian oil through illicit trade networks as part of its campaign to disrupt Moscow’s energy export revenue.
Lefkada sits along one of the Mediterranean’s busiest commercial and recreational shipping corridors, connecting Greece to Italy. The area sees heavy year-round traffic from commercial cargo ships and summer tourist traffic from private yachts and passenger ferries. Stefanos Gikas, Greece’s deputy maritime affairs minister, told public television Monday that early investigations suggest the drone suffered a critical mechanical failure that left it adrift without navigation controls. “So this craft — a black thing without navigation and carrying explosives — could have struck a tourist vessel,” Gikas warned.
The discovery comes amid a growing pattern of spillover incidents linked to the Ukraine-Russia war affecting EU and NATO member states. Until recently, most cross-border incursions involving conflict-related drones have been traced to Russian units, mostly involving violations of eastern NATO flank airspace. Romanian Defense Minister Radu-Dinel Miruța echoed Dendias’ calls for coordinated action Tuesday in Brussels, noting that repeated airspace incursions demand a unified EU response. “They are violating our airspace. And it’s very clear that inside the European Union we should rearrange our capacities, our capabilities, in order to decrease this type of violations,” Miruța said. “It is very important to understand that this is a common threat. It is happening on the entire eastern flank.”
The report was filed by Lorne Cook from Brussels, with additional contributing reporting from Theodora Tongas in Athens.