Colonel General Zakir Hasanov emphasized that military cooperation between Azerbaijan and Georgia continues to expand and deepen, reflecting the steady development of their broader bilateral relations across a wide range of fields.
Day: June 1, 2026
The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) said that it has detained smugglers who, acting on instructions from Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB), attempted to deliver an explosive-laden drone to the Ukrainian port city of Odesa, noting that the weapons had been transported across the Black Sea from occupied Abkhazia for the terrorist attacks.
According to the SBU’s May 29 statement, the suspects were tasked with delivering “a fiber-optic-controlled strike UAV equipped with explosives” to the southern Ukrainian port city. The agency said the drone was concealed among a wholesale shipment of tobacco products that were “illegally transported across the Black Sea from the temporarily occupied Abkhazia.”
“The smugglers’ route ran toward neutral waters near Zmiinyi Island, where their cargo was transferred from the main vessel to small boats to be covertly delivered to the Odesa coast,” the SBU said, adding that four suspects were detained while transporting the contraband cargo, including the drone, to the Odesa port area.
According to the SBU, the investigation found that the alleged organizer of the smuggling operation was an Odesa businessman currently “residing abroad” and involved in “illegal business activities” in Abkhazia. The agency alleged that the businessman agreed to cooperate with the FSB and to deliver a strike drone to Odesa, in exchange for conducting smuggling operations in the Caucasus region, and recruited the team, including a Ukrainian border guard, for this task.
The detainees face charges that carry a maximum sentence of up to 12 years in prison and confiscation of property.
Separately, the Defense Intelligence of Ukraine reported that it had tracked the suspects for more than a year. According to the agency, searches in the Odesa and Chernivtsi regions resulted in the seizure of a Russian Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) with a warhead, communication equipment, documentation, and automatic weapons.
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