Greece-Ukraine Maritime Drone Deal Stalls Over Kyiv’s Veto Demands

Athens and Kyiv disagree connected however Greece would beryllium capable to usage the marine drone systems. Image Credit: AMNA

Negotiations betwixt Greece and Ukraine to co-produce Ukrainian-designed maritime drones successful Greece person deed a important obstacle.

According to Greek media outlets, Ukraine is demanding veto powerfulness implicit however the Greek equipped forces deploy the jointly manufactured weaponry, a information Athens has firmly rejected. The projected agreement, initially brokered successful November 2025 by Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, aimed to found a section accumulation enactment for unmanned aboveground vehicles (USVs) astatine Greek shipyards.

Greece and Ukraine balancing their practice connected a… Turkish thread

Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis (right) talks with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky (left) during their gathering astatine the Maximos Mansion. Credit: Alexandros Mpeltes / AMNA

Finalizing the declaration has stalled due to the fact that Ukrainian officials submitted clauses restricting the tactical deployment and imaginable resale of the technology. The quality is straight tied to Ukraine’s delicate geopolitical balancing enactment with Turkey.

Ukraine wants to guarantee the combat systems it developed are not utilized against Turkish naval forces successful the Aegean oregon Eastern Mediterranean. Turkey remains a captious defence and diplomatic spouse for Ukraine arsenic Ankara supplies Kyiv with Ada-class corvettes and holds immense strategical leverage arsenic the NATO subordinate controlling Black Sea entree nether the Montreux Convention.

Greece’s defence officials support that sovereign subject assets cannot run nether foreign-imposed restrictions, peculiarly during progressive subject engagements. If Athens accepts the veto clause, the superior inferior of acquiring the maritime drones for Hellenic Navy operations would beryllium wholly neutralized.

Despite the existent impasse, the talks person not collapsed entirely. Greece’s subject officers antecedently traveled to Ukraine to behaviour extended method evaluations of the program. The planned associated task would integrate Ukrainian combat-tested hulls, engines, power systems, and bundle with Greek optics, physics systems, and optional warheads.

Zelensky and Erdogan. Credit: Presidency of the Republic of Türkiye authoritative Facebook page

Greece is anxious to finalize a reliable USV solution to code a increasing capableness spread with its eastbound neighbor. Turkey’s home defence assemblage has rapidly precocious its unmanned naval programs. Ankara presently fields the ULAQ 12 anti-surface warfare level and the ULAQ KAMA kamikaze drone, which boasts a manufacturing capableness of up to 100 units annually. Defense elephantine Aselsan besides produces the Albatros-S, highlighting a wide country wherever Greek naval procurement has lagged.

The drone co-production inaugural represents an improvement successful Greece-Ukraine defence relations, shifting the absorption from nonstop subject assistance toward concern practice betwixt the 2 European nations. Athens has antecedently transferred older, operationally surplus defence instrumentality to Ukraine via the United States, Germany, and the Czech Republic, a process that has generated astir €500 cardinal for Greece. Negotiators from some nations are present assessing whether a compromise tin beryllium reached that satisfies Ukraine’s strategical concerns without compromising Greek military sovereignty.