Kyiv is pressing to slash Russia’s oil income, making the tankers that help Moscow a prime target.
In this case, Kyiv said it had no information on the drone. “There is no evidence that it belongs to Ukrainian operators of maritime drones. We are open to cooperation with the Greek side to clarify the circumstances of the incident, if there are relevant requests from them,” Heorhii Tykhyi, spokesperson of the Ukrainian foreign ministry, told reporters on Tuesday.
Kyiv has, however, repeatedly complained that Greece’s giant tanker fleet is helping prop up Russia. At the beginning of the war, the then-Ukrainian ambassador to Athens, Serhiy Shutenko, said that “the money of certain shipping companies is stained with blood.”
On the other hand, the incident could now dent the conservative New Democracy government’s public image as Athens has gone a long way in offering support to Ukraine over the past five years, reversing traditionally close ties with Russia.
The government is now facing criticism from opposition parties across the political spectrum, which note that Greece seems to be completely unprotected, with inadequate monitoring of its territorial waters.
Kyriakos Velopoulos, leader of the ultranationalist Greek Solution party, which is considered to be close to Russia, said: “[President Volodymyr] Zelenskyy was never a friend of Greece, he has always been its enemy.”