In the past month at least four UAVs crashed in the Black Sea coast, hundreds of kilometers from the fighting area.
A Ukrainian drone carrying explosives has crashed into a tree and exploded in a rural area on Turkey’s Black Sea coast, local media have reported. No injuries or major damage have been reported.
The UAV was carrying 5 kilograms of explosives and went down on Wednesday in Trabzon province, in northeastern Turkey, about 100 kilometers from the Georgian border, the IHA news agency reported, citing preliminary technical tests. Investigators sent to the area discovered that the drone was of Ukrainian origin, the report said, adding that local residents briefly panicked before authorities found the site.
The Trabzon incident is the latest in a series of drone crashes on Turkey’s Black Sea coast in recent weeks. According to local media reports, two UAVs went down in succession on June 23-24. One was a fixed-wing unmanned aerial vehicle estimated to weigh 200 kilograms, which crashed into a hazelnut orchard in the village of Kuskayasi in Kastamonu province, catching fire and scattering debris in the yard of a nearby house.
At that time, the owner of the garden said he and his family “it had little escape route – if the drone had gone 10 meters further, our house would have been gone.”
Around the same time, another suspected UAV was found in Samsun province, and on June 14, an explosive-laden drone landed on the coast of Bartin province. The beach was later evacuated, and disarmament teams carried out a controlled explosion.
Turkish officials have not yet commented on the incidents, but in late March, Ankara said it was closely monitoring threats posed by drones in the Black Sea, adding that it stressed “communicate with the parties concerned to prevent the war from spreading to the Black Sea and prevent further escalation.” Ukraine has also refrained from commenting on the crash landing.
Kiev has stepped up long-range drone strikes against Russia in recent weeks, with many targeting its critical infrastructure and oil stations. Many of Ukraine’s drones – often posing a serious threat to civilians – have since strayed and crashed in the territory of NATO countries.
Ukraine has apologized for the incidents but has given no indication that it plans to scale back its drone campaign. Many governments in the affected countries have refrained from formally condemning Kiev, instead blaming Russian electronic warfare for the incidents.
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