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News & Current Events May 12, 2026 at 4:01 PM

Greece says attack sea drone found on island is Ukrainian, calls incident 'extremely serious'

Posted by Several-Zombies6547

Greece says attack sea drone found on island is Ukrainian, calls incident 'extremely serious'
AP News
Greece says attack sea drone found on island is Ukrainian, calls incident 'extremely serious'
Greece’s defense minister has confirmed that a military sea drone discovered on a Greek island last week is Ukrainian built.
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Samski877 May 12, 2026 +799
Its pretty remarkable how quickly sea drones have changed naval warfare. For years people talked about billion dollar ships like they were untouchable and now relatively c**** unmanned systems are forcing navies to completely rethink security in places like the Black Sea. Ukraine has basically turned asymmetric warfare into a real time case study.
799
Tacti_Kel_Nuke May 12, 2026 +157
Question I have: How is a sea drone different from a torpedo?
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LostTheGame42 May 12, 2026 +348
In terms of threat assessment, torpedoes are certainly far deadlier. A torpedo can autonomously find a target through passive sonar or receive wire guidance completely underwater, while sea drones are essentially explosive speedboats who often require wireless communication that can be detected by competent SIGINT. On the flip side, sea drones win on production and scale as they are produced with cheaper materials and simpler electronics. It's like the comparison between FPVs and cruise missiles. The cruise missile is infinitely more capable and deadly, but you can get a thousand FPVs for the same investment.
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pervertsage May 12, 2026 +304
This man is a torpedophile.
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[deleted] May 12, 2026 -51
[deleted]
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Obitim May 12, 2026 +42
Too many Brits - now torpaedophile is where it's at
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aaaaaaaarrrrrgh May 13, 2026 +24
Are there any torpedoes with 100+ nmi range? It feels like that is a much bigger game changer than cost, although being able to send 20 for the cost of 1 torpedo certainly doesn't hurt.
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Life_Of_High May 13, 2026 +1
I would assume no, and that info may be classified? But torpedoes need a launch platform which is usually attached to a machine that can travel farther than 100nm. But what we can say for sure is that drones are an effective way for counties to turtle and defend themselves, but we haven’t really seen the same effectiveness in drone warfare as an offensive multiplier on a large scale.
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811545b2-4ff7-4041 May 13, 2026 +1
What happens when someone decides to combine a seadrone, with a launchable torpedo?
1
toamnacri May 12, 2026 +25
Literal bang for the buck
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Life_Of_High May 13, 2026 +1
This is among many other things how the allies overwhelmingly won WWII. Nazi’s made very expensive and complicated war machines that took longer times to build and service but were objectively superior in certain ways. But the USA just built more and overwhelmed the Nazi’s. Best example is Sherman vs Tiger tanks. 50k Sherman’s produced vs ~2K Tiger tanks. 25 Sherman’s for every 1 Tiger. Basically the equivalent of today’s drone swarm. I’m excluding USSR’s contribution in this example.
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Hitchhiker106 May 13, 2026 +1
The ussr also fits this example. They were comfortable with throwing many more people to their dead using frequently subpar weapons. Even going further into history it matches. Iron/steel is inferior to bronze weapons, but it’s easy accessibility and scalability made that an army of 1000 steel swords beats a Bronze Age army of 200 bronze weapons. While it can find iron throughout Europe, tin and copper aren’t everywhere - especially not at the same time.
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CarismaMike May 13, 2026 +1
I get it with iron but steel isn't inferior to bronze, is it?
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Hitchhiker106 May 13, 2026 +1
Yeah I was sure about iron, steel I wasn’t fully sure and you are right. Bronze had a hardness of 300hv, iron of 100hv and steel of 500hv. It was so much better to have a copper sword during 1500bc till 500 ad, but it was so much more difficult to obtain and more expensive - so the army just used iron.
1
ElusiveGuy May 12, 2026 +12
> On the flip side, sea drones win on production and scale as they are produced with cheaper materials and simpler electronics. We've been making torpedoes for a century, are they really that expensive leaving aside the latest generation(s)?  I thought the greater difference is the much longer range, where traditional torpedoes need a relatively close by launch platform. 
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CumpyGrunt May 13, 2026 +36
Between $3-4.2 million each, so you could have \~16.8 Magura Sea Drones for the cost of one of the high end torpedo's. That's before you consider the cost of a submarine or other vessel to launch a torpedo from.
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ElusiveGuy May 13, 2026 +16
Now I wonder how much of that torpedo cost is intrinsic to the technology and how much is just bloat in military spending. There's a [South Korean torpedo](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/K731_White_Shark) that supposedly costs ~US$800k per unit, for another comparison. And yea, agreed on the launch platform cost. Which is why I was thinking the longer range control/autonomy of the modern 'drones' is their primary advantage, rather than the cost of the munition itself.
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CumpyGrunt May 13, 2026 +12
I have no doubt the cost is due to military bloat, but that doesn't change the cost to the purchaser. South Korea's cost is more likely realistic but few countries have the wherewithal to have local production of such. There is a chapter in Voltaire's Bastards that covers this very well, the chapter is "The Flowering of Armaments" Another interesting chapter is "The Perfection of Image" as I feel that is incredibly apt to our current situation with Ai "artwork"
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TSL4me May 13, 2026 +5
And a literal kid can launch a sea drone, torpedos take veteran sub engineers.
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Tacti_Kel_Nuke May 12, 2026 +8
Ah interesting, thanks to you too for the answer
8
Useless_Consequence May 13, 2026 +2
Don’t forget limited resources and specialized manufacturing techniques for a torpedo, reduced range, battery management, advanced targeting requirements, etc. Torpedos are not trivial weapons. A sea drone can equally take a naval vessel out of the fight for a fraction of the effort/cost: see USS Cole (though not a drone, but same concept)
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h950 May 13, 2026 +3
A sea drone can look like a little boat hanging out in the cave. Torpedoes generally rely on ships.
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PM-ME-YOUR-BUTTSHOLE May 13, 2026 +1
I’ve heard of aerial kamikaze drones that don’t operate using wireless signals. To get around jamming, the drones carries a spool of fiber cable connected to the operator. I’m curious if it’s possible for sea drones to utilize this, and how scary that would be.
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LostTheGame42 May 13, 2026 +1
Cold war torpedoes already have wire guidance. It's not impossible for wired sea drones to exist, although you would have to consider the additional complexity and cost of dozens of miles of optical fiber.
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pte_omark May 13, 2026 +1
>The cruise missile is infinitely more capable and deadly, but you can get a thousand FPVs for the same investment. And quantity has a quality of its own.
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Mindless-Peak-1687 May 13, 2026 +1
Deploying a drone seems alot easier than any of the other systems.
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redd-zeppelin May 13, 2026 +1
Quantity has a quality all it's own
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BestFriendWatermelon May 13, 2026 -1
Also Ukraine can't just fire a torpedo into the fog of war and expect/hope it to hit what they're looking for. They need to be able to see what they're attacking.
-1
sofixa11 May 12, 2026 +107
It's potentially autonomous, and a "sea drone" (which is, IMO, a stupid name) can be underwater (like a torpedo) or above water (like a small ship). The famous Sea Baby is above the water, like a small boat, just remotely controlled / autonomous.
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flight_recorder May 12, 2026 +5
Isn’t sea baby just a remotely controlled Jetski?
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Lexinoz May 12, 2026 +18
More like motorboat size. One took the world first record as a sea drone kill on a helicopter iirc. So large enough to hold rockets and can loiter autonomously. Iirc
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Tacti_Kel_Nuke May 12, 2026 +12
I see now, thanks for the answer
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HollaWho May 12, 2026 +9
Apart from the naval capabilities, Ukraine has been fielding some with surface to air missiles instead of the traditional warhead. They can leave these in a low power mode in the middle of nowhere, then activate them when a target presents itself. They’ve had a few shoot downs of choppers and jets this way.
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Tacti_Kel_Nuke May 13, 2026 +3
Very interesting, sounds like a "torpedo mine" but for both sea and air objetives, it can be move and is cheaper
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Pcriz May 12, 2026 +6
You don’t need to spend billions to build and man a ship/submarine that can shoot your million dollar torpedos.
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aaaaaaaarrrrrgh May 13, 2026 +5
Range. Torpedoes have ranges on the order of tens of nautical miles at best. The Sea Baby is said to have a range upwards of 500 nautical miles. They're also cheaper than advanced torpedoes ($0.25M for the Sea Baby vs. $5M for the Mark 48 torpedo).
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ShoulderPast2433 May 13, 2026 +1
Much longer range.  You don't need to risk your own ship to attack enemy.
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ander_hominem May 13, 2026 +1
I think that huge thing that people don't think of, is that unlike torpedos, drones don't need to have advanced launch infrastructure, aka you can send drone from anywhere or anything with small preparations. Like it's completely possible to sneakily send a drone from merchant ship or some random spot on shore
1
wildjackalope May 12, 2026 +16
The coming Trump-class is going to change the game back to giant, expensive, inefficiently armed battleships. /s Ukraine also captured a position exclusively with UGVs recently. Wild times.
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sofixa11 May 12, 2026 +59
> Its pretty remarkable how quickly sea drones have changed naval warfare. > Ukraine has basically turned asymmetric warfare into a real time case study. Asymmetrical naval warfare is nothing really new. Jeune École were in the 19th century and believed small fast ships with torpedoes can defeat the supposed best ships of the time (big battleships with lots of heavy guns). During the Cold War, the Soviet Navy was intending to rely on "carrier killer" anti-ship cruise missiles, as well as torpedoes from submarines. The Chinese People's Liberation Army Navy has anti-ship cruise and ballistic missiles precisely for this as well. Ukrainian sea drones are an extremely effective implementation of centuries old concepts (torpedoes).
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LemursRideBigWheels May 13, 2026 +7
Exactly. The US Navy during the war of 1812 was basically a handful of frigates.  Yet with their speed they managed to do a fair amount of damage through hit and run attacks against the British on or near their home soil.  In terms of their actual effects, they were fairly limited but they took the fight to the enemy who was not expecting it. The psychological impact was more important than what they achieved militarily…same as with Ukrainian sea drones.  Or many actions for that matter…the Doolittle Raid, Mosby’s Raiders, etc.
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BPhiloSkinner May 12, 2026 +16
Same thing between the World Wars, with the airplane and the battleship. *plus ça change...*
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Gaeus_ May 12, 2026 -14
Plus ca change ? Plus it changed ? You meant "puis" "then"  ? 
-14
LiveLearnCoach May 12, 2026 +14
I think that they were going for The more things change….
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Gaeus_ May 12, 2026 +2
"Plus les choses changes, le plus elle restent les mêmes"
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BPhiloSkinner May 12, 2026 +12
[plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose](https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/plus_%C3%A7a_change,_plus_c%27est_la_m%C3%AAme_chose). The phrase passed into cliché long ago.
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Gaeus_ May 12, 2026 -6
Perhaps in US culture. No one uses it in France, so much so that I translated it differently from "the more thing changes".
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BHQC May 12, 2026 +10
Captain Obvious, reporting for duty: not every French-speaking individual is French. "Plus ça change, plus c'est pareil" is what we say over here in QC.
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Gaeus_ May 12, 2026 -6
Lieutenant Oblivious, rather. I didn't say "mine is the right one", I said it's not a "cliché" in France, thus why I translated it back differently from the original saying.
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BHQC May 12, 2026 +2
L bait
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mulberrybushes May 12, 2026 +3
Permettez-moi de m’en douter…
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BPhiloSkinner May 12, 2026 +2
Mills Lane voice: 'I'll allow it!"
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JohnGabin May 12, 2026 +27
At the beginning of the war, western armies trained them. Now, they teach to western armies. They received a lot of kind of arms and a big part has been put aside because it was ineffective in real conflicts. And they opened their own plants to produce useful stuffs at big scale
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2peg2city May 12, 2026 +19
Not really true, they just weren't given enough, they are using most of what was given. Drones have absolutely changed the game though.
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AmeriBeanur May 12, 2026 +8
Ukraine will forever be a formidable foe. Watching them produce the next war meta realtime is crazy.
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Numinak May 12, 2026 +6
Necessity is the mother of invention. They weren't give the tools they needed, so they had to start creating their own to get the job done. and in the process have shown the world just how effective low cost weapons can be.
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Wumaduce May 13, 2026 +1
It's crazy watching drone footage from Lebanon compared to Ukraine. You almost never see Russian or Ukrainian troops gathered up any more, but I've seen multiple hits on IDF troops gathered in groups of 10+. There's a lot of lessons that haven't been learned outside of the Ukrainian theater yet.
1
iwrestledarockonce May 12, 2026 +3
I'm actually surprised sea drones didn't take off way before flying drones. They don't even need to fly. They can just lurk for god knows how long.
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TheWiseTree03 May 13, 2026 +1
"For years people talked about billion dollar ships like they were untouchable and now relatively c****". I think your correct in saying that was the case for some very well defended U.S. carriers and ships however, the general consensus amongst military analysts since the first German use of Anti-Ship missiles in 1943 was that the use of Guided Anti-Ship missiles drastically affected the value of nearly all larger surface combatants in navies. Even more so with the use of GPS starting in the 1990s which makes it much more difficult to conceal ship movements for surface vessels. Although with that being said I think that raises the point that since neither Guided Anti-Ship missiles or GPS made surface combatants obsolete, drones likely will also not make them fully obsolete. TL;DR, most military analysts haven't seen large expensive ships as untouchable since late WW2.
1
Magicjack01 May 12, 2026 -3
Iran aswell and why the soh won’t be open unless a peace treaty is reached
-3
Mralexs May 12, 2026 -4
Sea drones don't work well when you have a functional navy, which Russia doesn't have. A destroyer screen or anything in the air would be able to stop them.
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BasvanS May 12, 2026 +8
Not really. Small c**** weapons have always been a threat, but usually in particular situations, like in harbors. It’s just that now there become both c**** and semi autonomous enough that modern navies are threatened by them at sea. That changes a lot
8
wonderstoat May 12, 2026 +3
Should be easy to reopen the Strait of Hormuz then, no?
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Belisarius23 May 12, 2026 +2
How many hundreds can they stop tho? Thing about a navy is you only need to sink it once, and its not getting replaced anytime soon... so a modern superpower like China would just send 2000 at once at call it a day
2
Mralexs May 12, 2026 -2
Anything with a (functioning) CIWS equivalent can fend off a drone swarm. Anything with a DEW system could also fend off a drone swarm. The Russian equivalents kinda just suck and are from the 60's and in poor condition due to corruption within the Russian Armed Forces
-2
EntirelyDesperate May 12, 2026 +90
How exactly would this drone get to Greece?
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Sweet_Bridge_3001 May 12, 2026 +84
Yeah it seems weird, bosphorus is so tiny and crowded with ships and e****** 24/7 even a random piece of wood would get picked up.  There is no way it floated past bosphorus, marmara, then dardanelles without being spotted or washing ashore.
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Substantial_Brain917 May 13, 2026 +37
Ukraine is fighting Russia in Libya.
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SmugDruggler95 May 12, 2026 +23
Ukraine are operating outside of their own borders
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MidWestNorthSouth May 12, 2026 -22
You can say that, but the drone would have been spotted.
-22
Epinephrine186 May 12, 2026 +19
What? Its literally in another country.
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Pozos1996 May 13, 2026 +6
You can put it in a truck and move it, you can even do it in pieces to be harder to spot, de assemble it and put back in Eater during the night at any remote beach in any country in the Mediterranean. Don't forget that they had a truck with drones bombard Russian military aircrafts deep into Russia.
6
SteamEmpire May 12, 2026 +42
Ukraine has been striking Russian shipping from bases in Libya, this one has likely lost signal and went drifting. Since I'm not sure where this drone was found, it can likely have been covertly launched from somewhere else as well.
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Nick_Rousis May 13, 2026 +2
The reports we get say it started from a military base in Albania which is co-owned by Ukraine and Turkey.
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Illustrious-Syrup509 May 13, 2026 +3
Has Russia put it there?
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maincocoon May 13, 2026 +1
I could bet they are following cargo ships looking for Russians operations and the line is stretch here
1
GrowthWithLogic May 12, 2026 +157
When military tech starts washing up in other countries, the conflict is no longer staying neatly within borders.
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thpark1987 May 12, 2026 +52
Not even washing up. We've had 4 drones drop on Finnish soil thus far.
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MarkG1 May 12, 2026 +37
Or strong currents have dragged it off course.
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Icy_Guarantee_2000 May 12, 2026 +10
How does a drone drift from the Black Sea though turkey into greece. Or is Ukraine operating drones in the Mediterranean?
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Minute_Connection_62 May 12, 2026 +9
Most likely put in the Mediterranean when Ukraine sent their Spec Ops to hit Wagner in Sudan
9
AnswerLopsided2361 May 13, 2026 +3
Ukraine is probably operating drones from Libya. There's four or five big factions that control various portions of Libya. Russia supports one, and that potentially means that the others are up to looking the other way if Ukraine sets up USV ops within their territory.
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Arbiter51x May 13, 2026 +8
Doesn't american naval tech wash up all the time just about everywhere? You see it on listnook from time to time.
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PM-ME-YOUR-BUTTSHOLE May 13, 2026
Not arguing about which is worse, but it makes sense when you consider the size of the US navy and that they operate all over the world. I saw other comments mention Ukraine attacking Russian ships around Libya, but beyond that I can’t imagine Ukraines sea assets cover as much area as the US navy does.
0
siebenedrissg May 13, 2026 +1
Big if true
1
No_Conversation_9325 May 12, 2026 +176
Russian missiles have been crashing in Poland for years now. It sucks, but unless warmongering countries are stopped, there is nothing the rest of the world can do.
176
SOHONEYSAME May 12, 2026 -177
Poland (directly) borders Russia/Ukraine. Greece doesn't. this is 100% unacceptable & it's reported that relations are "in crisis mode" > "This is an extremely serious development,” Gerapetritis said before entering the meeting. “When the investigation is completed and the necessary technical characteristics are extracted, there will be a response from the Greek government with the necessary demarches.” > He added that Greece “will not allow war operations to develop in the wider Mediterranean region and especially toward Greece." https://www.euractiv.com/news/athens-kyiv-relations-in-crisis-mode-after-ukrainian-sea-drone-incident
-177
thejourneybegins42 May 12, 2026 -35
Poland does not share a border with Russia....
-35
ux3l May 12, 2026 +70
Kaliningrad?
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thejourneybegins42 May 12, 2026 +8
I stand corrected, didn't realize there was a tiny portion of Russia connected to Poland.
8
No_Conversation_9325 May 12, 2026 -107
Ukraine is helping US and Israel, which Greece is heavily aligned with.
-107
CharmingWin5837 May 12, 2026 +56
Greece is helping Russia to export oil and other stuff. Of course they won't be happy to see ukrainian drones.
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SOHONEYSAME May 12, 2026 -44
Ukraine is fighting its (own) war. but there's absolutely no way Ukraine will be "allowed" to carry out operations, within Greek territory. & certainly can't afford to "lose" an EU ally, especially now that Orban is gone.
-44
[deleted] May 12, 2026 -7
[deleted]
-7
Several-Zombies6547 May 12, 2026 +3
When did Greece give permission to Ukraine to carry out operations in their own territory? A drone with explosives malfunctioning in a touristic location is dangerous.
3
No_Conversation_9325 May 12, 2026 -20
Is Greece suspecting the drone from Ukraine crossed Bosphorus, Marmara sea and Dardanelles? I think it’s more likely that they sold some to ME warfare.
-20
SOHONEYSAME May 12, 2026 +8
read the article, maybe. > "Greek newspaper Vima reported that the sea drone was either launched in the area from a merchant vessel or originated from a military base the Ukrainians are believed to maintain in the city of Misrata in western Libya"
8
No_Conversation_9325 May 12, 2026 -1
So there is no proof that the drone wasn’t engaged in ME operation. Greece is just stirring the pot again on Putin’s orders.
-1
SOHONEYSAME May 12, 2026 +12
I thought, "Greece is heavily aligned with Israel & US" now, it's a "Putin stooge" ??? regardless, the position of the Greek government is clear. & Ukraine can't afford to lose allies. it has already lost enough territory.
12
No_Conversation_9325 May 12, 2026 -20
>I thought, "Greece is heavily aligned with Israel & US" >now, it's a "Putin stooge" ??? Have you been sleeping under a rock for the few past years? > & Ukraine can't afford to lose allies. Agreed. Ukraine has EU, Greece is free to leave if they want.
-20
Netta_Haze May 12, 2026 +7
Ukraine doesn't have the EU if Greece vetoes aid like Hungary did before because newsflash Greece is in the EU
7
SOHONEYSAME May 12, 2026 +13
oh dear.
13
FremenCoolAid May 12, 2026 +3
There's so much c*** that's been happening all over the world for years now, i've honestly not seen anything about greece being in bed with russia. Could you clarify? I tried to at least chatgpt it but couldn't get anything on that
3
Top-Fall-7932 May 13, 2026 -29
But it’s confirmed that the first missiles that hit poland, came from ukraine. So what you talking about?
-29
sovinsky May 13, 2026 +16
That’s just not true. There indeed was such speculation but as always it proved to be just ruzzian propaganda, but you wouldn’t know that, would you?
16
Several-Zombies6547 May 13, 2026 +2
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2022_missile_explosion_in_Poland It was actually a Ukrainian missile that malfunctioned.
2
Worldeaterov May 13, 2026 -1
Don't tell them. They live in a really bad imaginary world.
-1
deejeycris May 12, 2026 +113
Hm yes war is extremely serious, give more weapons to Ukraine so it ends sooner.
113
Tree1Dva May 12, 2026 +24
Obviously an accident, drone losing guidance or mobility. The natural final resting place for a Ukrainian drone is a Russian ship, and there are plenty of Russian ships in the Med. Greece happens to have a huge proportion of the Mediterranean coastline by virtue of having so many islands and peninsulas, and was therefore the likeliest place for a lost drone to wash up.
24
DDoubleDDog May 12, 2026 +29
The fact that the drone was made by Ukraine doesn't necessarily mean it was used by Ukraine. Russia has a lot of Ukrainian things that they steal during their r*** and pillage operations. I would not be surprised if Russia put this there to cause division between Greece and Ukraine.
29
Several-Zombies6547 May 12, 2026 +19
It's not something unprecedented. Ukraine has been responsible for similar incidents in the past. Its drones entered the airspace of the Baltic states and Finland in March, and Ukraine apologized afterward.
19
MrCyra May 13, 2026 +4
Well it's russia who are responsible for that one. None of it would have happened if they didn't start a war.
4
Threatening May 12, 2026 +9
Is it possible it washed up or just crashed?
9
Bowler_Pristine May 12, 2026 +10
It is unfortunate that it didn’t find its intended Russian target!
10
helpful_idiott May 12, 2026 +7
It is serious, how will it find a Russian ship to say hello to now.
7
turbo May 13, 2026 +2
How hard would it be for Russia to create a situation like this?
2
Long-Euphoric-Life May 12, 2026
I bet they do zippo about it.
0
yeet_me_a55 May 12, 2026 +2
I guess I’m dumb but why would Ukraine go out of its way to mess with Greece when it is fighting for its life against Russia? What purpose would it serve? I must be ignorant — to me it seems like this would have to be something that was sold to someone else or stolen by someone else. I will have to go and educate myself on Ukrainian-Greece relations.
2
FartBrulee May 12, 2026 +36
I'm presuming the drone has just got lost and drifted somehow...I don't think Ukraine has a reason to attack Greece lol
36
protostar71 May 12, 2026 +15
They aren't messing with Greece, this is likely from Ukraines attacks on Russias "shadow fleet". https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arctic_Metagaz#2026_Mediterranean_incident My tinfoil hat is that Ukraine was pre-staging it there for another round and didn't tell the Greeks, who would have never allowed Ukraine to stage off of their land as that would drag them in as a combatant.
15
jesus_wasgay May 13, 2026 +1
Return it to Ukraine then.
1
SnooCakes1148 May 13, 2026 +1
Same how it fell in Croatia, but it was all hushed and glossed over. Despite the fact it almost crashed into student dormatory. Multiple NATO states looked and followed drone, but none notifyed Croats about it reaching us. Thanks allies !
1
porgy_tirebiter May 13, 2026
So Ukraine is preparing to attack Greece? Is that the implication here? Seems unlikely.
0
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