Greek investigators believe a military sea drone found on a Greek island last week went off course due to a technical failure and may not have travelled far, sources said on Friday.
The explosives-laden drone - which Greece says is Ukrainian, a claim Kyiv has officially denied - was discovered by fishermen on the shores of Lefkada on May 7, triggering diplomatic tensions between Athens and Kyiv.
Greek intelligence and military units have been analysing the drone, dismantling it and using reverse engineering to determine its characteristics.
Investigators are also examining its metadata to establish its mission and whether it was launched from a mother ship or from shore — potentially as far away as Libya across the Mediterranean.
A security source said the drone likely failed to reach its target after losing orientation due to a technical malfunction.
"This issue is very serious. This vessel...had explosives, endangering the safety of navigation. I don't want to think what it would mean for a passenger ship or any ship to collide with that drone," Greek Defence Minister Nikos Dendias said on Thursday, insisting that the drone is Ukrainian.
Preliminary findings suggest it did not travel a long distance, making a launch from Libya less likely, a security source said. Another official said fuel levels are a key factor in the assessment but declined to give further details.
The technical analysis is nearly complete, with only some encrypted data yet to be decoded, the source added.
Ukraine has over the past year targeted tankers in the Black Sea and beyond, including in the Mediterranean, that it says are part of Russia's so-called "shadow fleet" – vessels that Kyiv says are helping Moscow to escape sanctions and export oil to fund its war effort in Ukraine.
Greece has alerted the European Union to the matter.
Speaking from Brussels this week, Foreign Minister George Gerapetritis said Athens is ready to lodge a formal complaint once the investigation concludes.
(Reporting by Yannis Souliotis and Renee Maltezou; Additional reporting by Daniel Flynn; Editing by Ros Russell)
