Unidentified drones breached Ireland’s airspace this week during a visit by Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, a source familiar with the matter told CBS News on Friday.
“Any incident like this would be well under control by defense forces,” the source told CBS News, adding: “You see these across Europe now.”
The Irish Department of Defense told CBS News in a statement Friday that “all of the circumstances regarding the incident” are being investigated and analyzed by Irish military and police officials.
The drones were large and likely of military specification, and the incident was classed as a hybrid attack by Irish officials, according to the Irish news outlet The Journal, which cited security services in the country. Senior Irish government officials were briefed following the presence of drones, according to the Irish state broadcaster RTÉ.
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It comes after weeks of reports from other European nations of unidentified drones flying around key infrastructure, including airports and military facilities in Germany, Denmark and the Baltic states. The incidents have forced airports to suspend flights many times in recent months, and unmarked drone aircraft have even been spotted around military bases, including near a Belgian military base where U.S. nuclear weapons are stored last month.
Some of the United States’ European NATO allies have alleged these airspace incursions are part of a campaign of escalating hybrid warfare tactics by Russia.
The Journal reported Thursday that four unidentified military-style drones had breached an Irish no-fly zone and flown toward the flight path of Zelenskyy’s plane while it was still over the sea approaching Dublin Airport late Monday evening. The drones reached the location where Zelenskyy’s plane was expected to be at the exact moment it had been due to pass, according to the outlet.
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The Ukrainian leader’s plane landed, reportedly slightly ahead of schedule, just moments before the incident happened around 11 p.m. local time. The drones then circled over an Irish Navy vessel that was deployed in the Irish Sea specifically for the Zelenskyy visit after the incident, The Journal said.
Zelenskyy made a diplomatic visit to Ireland this week, meeting with the country’s Prime Minister Micheál Martin and addressing Ireland’s parliament.
The Irish military declined to comment on the specifics of the incident but told CBS News Friday that a security operation in partnership with Irish police, “was successfully deployed in multiple means ultimately leading to a safe and successful visit by the President Zelensky to Ireland.”