French troops have boarded the deck of a tanker alleged to be from Russia‘s ‘shadow fleet’ and suspected of involvement in drone flights over Denmark last month.
A source within the executive branch told AFP earlier that the French navy had boarded the Boracay, a Benin-flagged vessel blacklisted by the European Union for being part of Russia’s sanction-busting fleet of ageing oil tankers.
French President Emmanuel Macron did not confirm reports of a connection to Danish drone flights but said on Wednesday that the ship had committed ‘serious offences’.
It is currently at anchor near the western French city of Saint Nazaire.Â
The Boracay tanker was detained earlier this year for sailing without a valid country flag.Â
Shadow fleet tankers typically have opaque ownership and insurance and are often more than 20 years old.
The crude oil tanker left the Russian port of Primorsk on September 20, according to MarineTraffic data.
 It sailed through the Baltic Sea and over the top of Denmark last week before entering the North Sea and transiting west through the Channel.
This aerial picture taken on October 1, 2025 off the coast of the western France port of Saint-Nazaire shows the tanker Boracay from Russia’s so-called ‘shadow fleet’ suspected of being involved in drone flights over Denmark which sailed off the Danish coast between September 22 and 25
This aerial picture taken on October 1, 2025 off the coast of the western France port of Saint-Nazaire shows French soldiers onboard the tanker from Russia’s so-called ‘shadow fleet’
The tanker is suspected of being involved in drone flights over Denmark last month
The Boracay tanker is currently at anchor near the western French city of Saint Nazaire
Ship tracking data shows that the 2007-built tanker was being shadowed by a French warship after it rounded France’s northwestern tip, before altering course and heading east towards the French coast.Â
The Kremlin said on Wednesday it had no information about the vessel, but added the Russian military had to act sometimes to restore order when foreign countries had taken what spokesman Dmitry Peskov described as ‘provocative actions.’
Naval experts suspect it to be one of several Russia-linked vessels that may have been involved in drone incursions in Denmark last month, which saw Copenhagen ground flights for nearly four hours.Â
Several unmanned aircraft were spotted at Danish airports in Aalborg, Esbjerg, Sonderborg and at the Skrydstrup air base before leaving on their own.
Aalborg airport, located in northern Denmark and one of the country’s biggest after Copenhagen, was shut down before reopening several hours later.
Denmark has stopped short of saying who it believes is responsible for the incidents in its airspace last week, but Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen has suggested it could be Moscow.Â
It comes as Denmark’s defense ministry said on Sunday that it had again observed drones at several of its armed forces’ locations, a day after the NATO alliance announced that it would enhance its vigilance in the Baltic Sea region.Â
Britain and the EU imposed separate sanctions on the crude oil tanker in October 2024 and February 2025.
A light moves in the sky over Aalborg, amid reports of drone sightings that led to the airport being closed for several hours in Denmark last month
Police officers previously seen at Copenhagen Airport after all flights were diverted due to drone sightings
The EU said the vessel was linked to the transport of Russian crude oil and petroleum products ‘while practising irregular and high-risk shipping practices’.
Britain said the vessel was ‘involved in activity whose object or effect is to destabilise Ukraine … or to obtain a benefit from or support the government of Russia’ in the transport of oil or oil products that originated in Russia to a third country.
The vessel, which changed its name to Boracay – or on some shipping databases Pushpa – in December 2024, was previously named Kiwala. Ships keep the same IMO identification number throughout their lives, but they may change names.
Meanwhile, top European leaders medt in Copenhagen on Wednesday for talks on the continent’s security.
Before the talks, Danish PM Frederiksen warned that Europe is ‘in the most difficult and dangerous situation since the second world war’.Â
Leaders also discussed plans to bolster the bloc’s eastern defences as they accused Russia of brazen violations of the region’s airspace with recent incursions by drones over Poland and fighter jets over Estonia.Â
‘Russia will continue and we have to be ready, we have to strengthen our preparedness,’ Finland’s Prime Minister Petteri Orpo said as he arrived, voicing his support for a drone wall – a network of sensors and weapons to detect, track and neutralise intruding unmanned aircraft.
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‘It is the pattern we need to observe, and in my view that pattern is essentially a hybrid war against Europe, and that is what we need to respond to,’ Frederiksen told reporters on Wednesday.
The meeting is also the first opportunity for leaders of the EU’s 27 countries to debate a proposal to use Russian assets frozen in Europe to fund a major loan to Ukraine.
As they arrived at the summit, some leaders voiced strong support for the idea while others were more cautious.
The Kremlin condemned the proposal on Wednesday as ‘pure theft’.
Russia has denied responsibility for the drones over Denmark, disputed that its fighter jets entered Estonian airspace and said it did not intend to send drones into Poland.
But the incidents prompted European leaders to step up calls to bolster the continent’s defences and boost support for Ukraine in its fight against Russia’s invasion. U.S. President Donald Trump has demanded the EU take more responsibility on both fronts.
The drones that flew over Denmark ‘show we need pre-alert systems, and we need to cooperate,’ France’s Macron said in Copenhagen.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen raised the idea of a drone wall last month, after some 20 Russian drones entered Polish airspace, although officials say it had been being worked on before then.
Parts of discovered drone are seen in the village of Mniszkow in central Poland, where one of the Russian drones that breached Polish airspace last night was discovered on September 10, 2025
A severely damaged house in the village of Wyryki in eastern Poland, where one of the Russian drones that breached Polish airspace collided with the buildingÂ
‘What I see overall … is a pattern. And this pattern is coming from Russia,’ von der Leyen said on Wednesday.
‘Russia tries to test us. But Russia also tries to sow division and anxiety in our societies. We will not let this happen,’ she said.
This is a breaking story, more to follow.Â