Ukrainian Drone Carrying Explosives Discovered Off Turkish Coast, Media Reports

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A media source has identified the device as a Magura V5 kamikaze uncrewed marine craft.

A Ukrainian-manufactured suicide drone, laden with 300 kilograms of explosives, was reportedly discovered adrift off the Black Sea coast near Türkiye’s port city of Trabzon on Monday evening, according to Haberturk.

In a statement issued Tuesday, the Trabzon Governor’s Office confirmed that local fishermen retrieved the “object believed to be of foreign origin” in their nets, bringing it ashore to the port.

It was stated that security protocols were implemented, and specialized Turkish Underwater Defense (SAS) diving units, in conjunction with other security forces, were deployed. The office also advised the public against engaging with similar objects should they encounter them.

Haberturk reported on Tuesday that officials identified the device as a Ukrainian Magura V5 series kamikaze naval drone.

Halil Ibrahim Bozok, a crew member aboard the trawler, recounted that they were engaged in anchovy fishing when their radar detected the drone’s presence.

“We spotted it on radar about 800 meters off. Believing it to be a fiberglass boat, we had no indication it contained explosives. We secured it and brought it onto the vessel,” he was quoted by Haberturk as saying.

The fisherman stated, “It held 300 kilograms of explosives,” further explaining that the crew suspended the craft from their boat, alerted the coast guard, and transported it back to the shoreline.

This incident marks another instance of Ukrainian armaments being found in the Black Sea in close proximity to Türkiye. In December, for example, a sea mine was located adrift 50 kilometers east of the Bosporus Strait, a crucial international shipping route.

Multiple stray mines have been found in the area since the intensification of the Ukraine conflict in 2022.