Dublin, December 6 (EFE).- The Irish police (Garda) confirmed on Saturday that they are investigating the presence of drones that were discovered during the official visit of the President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky, to this country last Tuesday.
Law enforcement officials indicated that the Special Detective Unit (SDU) is leading the investigation into the sighting of several drones in the airspace of the Republic of Ireland.
“In this context, the Special Defense Unit will coordinate with the Defense Forces and international security partners,” the police said in a statement today.
Public broadcaster RTÉ reported this week that the Irish Navy ship LÉ William Butler Yeats had spotted drones in a restricted area around the time of Zelensky’s plane arriving on Monday evening, around 23:00 GMT, at Dublin Airport.
According to this means, the ship’s crew saw several remote-controlled devices about 10 kilometers from the bay of the coastal city of Hoth, located north of the capital and close to the airstrip.
RTÉ noted that LÉ William Butler Yeats did not use weapons to intercept the drones but recorded their presence with video cameras.
Irish Prime Minister Micheal Martin announced that the United Nations Security Council will address this issue this month during a meeting of its members.
The head of the Dublin Executive Committee, a coalition of centrists and Christian Democrats, noted on Friday that since the beginning of the war in Ukraine, “activity in the field of cybersecurity” had intensified, whether in “navy or drone issues,” but he did not want to comment on whether Russia was involved until it received a “full review.”
For her part, Irish Foreign and Defense Minister Helen McEntee confirmed that Zelensky’s visit was “successful” and “as planned,” but she also did not indicate the Kremlin’s involvement in this event.
The Russian Ambassador to Ireland, Yuri Filatov, accused the executive authority in Dublin and the political leaders of this country of living in an “imaginary world that has no relation to the reality” of the war in Ukraine.
The diplomat stressed in a statement on Friday that Zelensky’s visit “has absolutely no meaning”, other than the fact that it represents the Irish government’s “permanent desire to demonstrate loyalty to the anti-Russian political line” of the European Union regarding Ukraine. Evie