A Ukrainian drone loaded with explosives, discovered in a sea cave in Lefkada, was among the issues referenced by Defence Minister Nikos Dendias during remarks at the Athens Defence Summit (ADS), which he officially opened.

“I’m not going to draw conclusions, but this is something extremely dangerous. This is a Ukrainian maritime drone—Ukraine should apologize. If it had struck a cruise ship, it would have ended up at the bottom of the sea,” the minister said.

Dendias also addressed Greece’s domestic political outlook, referring to polling that suggests future coalition governments, and reiterated that New Democracy’s objective is to secure an outright parliamentary majority.

“We will call for an independent government, but this depends on the Greek people,” he said.

Turning to regional security issues, he referred to concerns over Patriot missile deployments on Karpathos.

“They were not deployed to deal with the Turkish threat, but with Iranian missiles that have not been launched for six weeks,” he said, adding that Greece’s decisions regarding deployments were based on national operational planning and not directed by NATO.

He also warned against complacency in Greek-Turkish relations, rejecting what he described as a “calm waters” narrative.

“It is up to Turkey whether we will return to an operational crisis; we are not claiming anything,” he said.