The ship was detained off the coast of the French western port of Saint-Naser. The tanker went under the flag of Benin. Reuters wrote that earlier the ship was called Kiwala, in December 2024 it was renamed Boracay, and in some navigation databases it is still listed as PushPa. It is under the sanctions of Great Britain and the European Union.
They also detained two members of the crew of the vessel, presented as the captain of the vessel and his first assistant.
French President Emmanuel Macron said the country is investigating the case of “serious offenses”, but did not confirm the message about the possible connection of the vessel with the flights of drones in the airspace of Denmark.
However, as the Ukrainian journalist, the chief editor of Blackseanews Andrei Klimenko, the tanker Boracay drew attention on September 27 due to the suspicion that on the evening of September 22, 2025, he could be a platform for the launch of drones near which the airport of the capital of Denmark was closed. After the incident, the German frigate watched for about four hours.
At the same time, the official reason for its detention may be a false flag. Klimenko explained that this gives a legal basis for inspection of the vessel in accordance with Art. 110 of the UN Convention under the Law. The expert emphasizes that such detentions are a legal way to reduce the sea export of oil from the Russian Federation.
“That is, the presence of a fake flag is a 100% reason for the legitimate stop and inspection of a civil vessel. And such tankers with fake flags, for example, in August 2025 left the ports of the Russian Federation in the Baltic … – 11 out of 95. And no one has stopped them anywhere! And they transported at least 1 million tons of” Blood oil, “Klimenko informed.
He added that Boracay has repeatedly changed the flags-Gambia (since December 2024), Malawi (since June 2025) and Benin (since September 2025), and they were all false. Whether the UAV has been launched from this ship is still unknown. This will establish the investigation.
