{"id":99117,"date":"2025-12-15T13:43:31","date_gmt":"2025-12-15T11:43:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/disinfo.md\/how-seven-german-students-discovered-the-connection-between-russian-ships-and-drone-swarms\/"},"modified":"2025-12-15T13:43:31","modified_gmt":"2025-12-15T11:43:31","slug":"how-seven-german-students-discovered-the-connection-between-russian-ships-and-drone-swarms","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/disinfo.md\/en\/how-seven-german-students-discovered-the-connection-between-russian-ships-and-drone-swarms\/","title":{"rendered":"How seven German students discovered the connection between Russian ships and drone swarms"},"content":{"rendered":"

Seven German journalism students monitored cargo ships with Russian crews that were suspiciously stationed off the coasts of the Netherlands and Germany, and managed to correlate them with swarms of drones flying over military bases.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Let me explain what Mich\u00e8le Borcherding, Clara Veihelmann, Luca-Marie Hoffmann, Julius Nieweler, Tobias Wellnitz, Sergen Kaya, and Clemens Justus from the Axel Springer Academy for Journalism and Technology have achieved.<\/p>\n

To be clear: I know them. I attended an extensive OSINT training in Berlin with them. And I can say without hesitation that they have far exceeded everything I taught them. Only field verification \u2014 tracking a ship through France, the Netherlands, and Belgium \u2014 is something you don’t learn in a classroom.<\/p>\n

On the night of May 16, 2025, two ships were in suspicious positions. HAV Dolphin \u2014 under the flag of Antigua and Barbuda \u2014 had been circling in the Kiel Bay in Germany for ten days. Without delivering cargo. Just stationed, about 25 kilometers from military shipyards, in the area where swarms of drones had been observed on three different days.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, 115 kilometers away, off the Dutch island of Schiermonnikoog, the sister ship HAV Snapper went out to sea and stopped in open waters. It positioned itself exactly two hours before seven drones appeared over a Russian cargo ship escorted by the German police through the North Sea. It stayed there for four days, describing meaningless circles.<\/p>\n

Details, HERE<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Seven German journalism students monitored cargo ships with Russian crews that were suspiciously stationed off the coasts of the Netherlands and Germany, and managed to correlate them with swarms of drones flying over military bases. Let me explain what Mich\u00e8le Borcherding, Clara Veihelmann, Luca-Marie Hoffmann, Julius Nieweler, Tobias Wellnitz, Sergen Kaya, and Clemens Justus from<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":99111,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1135],"tags":[8923,9206,12464,11684,12462,12390,9995,12463,9993],"class_list":{"0":"post-99117","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-foreign-affairs-en","8":"tag-drone-en","9":"tag-students","10":"tag-cargo","11":"tag-link","12":"tag-military-bases","13":"tag-overflight","14":"tag-parking","15":"tag-russian-ships","16":"tag-germany"},"yoast_head":"\nHow seven German students discovered the connection between Russian ships and drone swarms - DISINFO.MD<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/disinfo.md\/cum-au-descoperit-sapte-studenti-germani-legatura-dintre-nave-rusesti-si-roiurile-de-drone\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"How seven German students discovered the connection between Russian ships and drone swarms - DISINFO.MD\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Seven German journalism students monitored cargo ships with Russian crews that were suspiciously stationed off the coasts of the Netherlands and Germany, and managed to correlate them with swarms of drones flying over military bases. Let me explain what Mich\u00e8le Borcherding, Clara Veihelmann, Luca-Marie Hoffmann, Julius Nieweler, Tobias Wellnitz, Sergen Kaya, and Clemens Justus from\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/disinfo.md\/cum-au-descoperit-sapte-studenti-germani-legatura-dintre-nave-rusesti-si-roiurile-de-drone\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"DISINFO.MD\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-12-15T11:43:31+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/disinfo.md\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/studenti-germani.webp\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"920\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"728\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/webp\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"disinfo1\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"disinfo1\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/disinfo.md\\\/cum-au-descoperit-sapte-studenti-germani-legatura-dintre-nave-rusesti-si-roiurile-de-drone\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/disinfo.md\\\/cum-au-descoperit-sapte-studenti-germani-legatura-dintre-nave-rusesti-si-roiurile-de-drone\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"disinfo1\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/disinfo.md\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/32d1f83c16a4238d17770077042863cb\"},\"headline\":\"How seven German students discovered the connection between Russian ships and drone swarms\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-12-15T11:43:31+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/disinfo.md\\\/cum-au-descoperit-sapte-studenti-germani-legatura-dintre-nave-rusesti-si-roiurile-de-drone\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":245,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/disinfo.md\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/disinfo.md\\\/cum-au-descoperit-sapte-studenti-germani-legatura-dintre-nave-rusesti-si-roiurile-de-drone\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/disinfo.md\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/12\\\/studenti-germani.webp\",\"keywords\":[\"\\\"#drone\\\"\",\"\\\"#students\\\"\",\"#cargo\",\"#link\",\"#military bases\",\"#overflight\",\"#parking\",\"#Russian ships\",\"Germany\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Foreign Affairs\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/disinfo.md\\\/cum-au-descoperit-sapte-studenti-germani-legatura-dintre-nave-rusesti-si-roiurile-de-drone\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/disinfo.md\\\/cum-au-descoperit-sapte-studenti-germani-legatura-dintre-nave-rusesti-si-roiurile-de-drone\\\/\",\"name\":\"How seven German students discovered the connection between Russian ships and drone swarms - DISINFO.MD\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/disinfo.md\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/disinfo.md\\\/cum-au-descoperit-sapte-studenti-germani-legatura-dintre-nave-rusesti-si-roiurile-de-drone\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/disinfo.md\\\/cum-au-descoperit-sapte-studenti-germani-legatura-dintre-nave-rusesti-si-roiurile-de-drone\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/disinfo.md\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/12\\\/studenti-germani.webp\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-12-15T11:43:31+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/disinfo.md\\\/cum-au-descoperit-sapte-studenti-germani-legatura-dintre-nave-rusesti-si-roiurile-de-drone\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/disinfo.md\\\/cum-au-descoperit-sapte-studenti-germani-legatura-dintre-nave-rusesti-si-roiurile-de-drone\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/disinfo.md\\\/cum-au-descoperit-sapte-studenti-germani-legatura-dintre-nave-rusesti-si-roiurile-de-drone\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/disinfo.md\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/12\\\/studenti-germani.webp\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/disinfo.md\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/12\\\/studenti-germani.webp\",\"width\":920,\"height\":728},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/disinfo.md\\\/cum-au-descoperit-sapte-studenti-germani-legatura-dintre-nave-rusesti-si-roiurile-de-drone\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Prima pagin\u0103\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/disinfo.md\\\/en\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"How seven German students discovered the connection between Russian ships and drone swarms\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/disinfo.md\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/disinfo.md\\\/\",\"name\":\"DISINFO.MD monitorizeaz\u0103 propaganda, dezinformarea \u0219i \u0219tirile false din Republica Moldova\",\"description\":\"monitoriz\u0103m propaganda \u0219i dezinformarea Now\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/disinfo.md\\\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/disinfo.md\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/disinfo.md\\\/#organization\",\"name\":\"DISINFO.MD\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/disinfo.md\\\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/disinfo.md\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/disinfo.md\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/02\\\/logo-disinfo-new-alb-2.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/disinfo.md\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/02\\\/logo-disinfo-new-alb-2.png\",\"width\":499,\"height\":151,\"caption\":\"DISINFO.MD\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/disinfo.md\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\"}},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/disinfo.md\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/32d1f83c16a4238d17770077042863cb\",\"name\":\"disinfo1\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/7548aeed5e7b0a7c6301343694a9bd57b8794873022af285d1a0b809c4ff8c33?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/7548aeed5e7b0a7c6301343694a9bd57b8794873022af285d1a0b809c4ff8c33?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/7548aeed5e7b0a7c6301343694a9bd57b8794873022af285d1a0b809c4ff8c33?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"disinfo1\"},\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/disinfo.md\\\/en\\\/author\\\/disinfo1\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"How seven German students discovered the connection between Russian ships and drone swarms - DISINFO.MD","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/disinfo.md\/cum-au-descoperit-sapte-studenti-germani-legatura-dintre-nave-rusesti-si-roiurile-de-drone\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"How seven German students discovered the connection between Russian ships and drone swarms - DISINFO.MD","og_description":"Seven German journalism students monitored cargo ships with Russian crews that were suspiciously stationed off the coasts of the Netherlands and Germany, and managed to correlate them with swarms of drones flying over military bases. Let me explain what Mich\u00e8le Borcherding, Clara Veihelmann, Luca-Marie Hoffmann, Julius Nieweler, Tobias Wellnitz, Sergen Kaya, and Clemens Justus from","og_url":"https:\/\/disinfo.md\/cum-au-descoperit-sapte-studenti-germani-legatura-dintre-nave-rusesti-si-roiurile-de-drone\/","og_site_name":"DISINFO.MD","article_published_time":"2025-12-15T11:43:31+00:00","og_image":[{"width":920,"height":728,"url":"https:\/\/disinfo.md\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/studenti-germani.webp","type":"image\/webp"}],"author":"disinfo1","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"disinfo1","Est. reading time":"1 minute"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/disinfo.md\/cum-au-descoperit-sapte-studenti-germani-legatura-dintre-nave-rusesti-si-roiurile-de-drone\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/disinfo.md\/cum-au-descoperit-sapte-studenti-germani-legatura-dintre-nave-rusesti-si-roiurile-de-drone\/"},"author":{"name":"disinfo1","@id":"https:\/\/disinfo.md\/#\/schema\/person\/32d1f83c16a4238d17770077042863cb"},"headline":"How seven German students discovered the connection between Russian ships and drone swarms","datePublished":"2025-12-15T11:43:31+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/disinfo.md\/cum-au-descoperit-sapte-studenti-germani-legatura-dintre-nave-rusesti-si-roiurile-de-drone\/"},"wordCount":245,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/disinfo.md\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/disinfo.md\/cum-au-descoperit-sapte-studenti-germani-legatura-dintre-nave-rusesti-si-roiurile-de-drone\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/disinfo.md\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/studenti-germani.webp","keywords":["\"#drone\"","\"#students\"","#cargo","#link","#military bases","#overflight","#parking","#Russian ships","Germany"],"articleSection":["Foreign Affairs"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/disinfo.md\/cum-au-descoperit-sapte-studenti-germani-legatura-dintre-nave-rusesti-si-roiurile-de-drone\/","url":"https:\/\/disinfo.md\/cum-au-descoperit-sapte-studenti-germani-legatura-dintre-nave-rusesti-si-roiurile-de-drone\/","name":"How seven German students discovered the connection between Russian ships and drone swarms - DISINFO.MD","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/disinfo.md\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/disinfo.md\/cum-au-descoperit-sapte-studenti-germani-legatura-dintre-nave-rusesti-si-roiurile-de-drone\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/disinfo.md\/cum-au-descoperit-sapte-studenti-germani-legatura-dintre-nave-rusesti-si-roiurile-de-drone\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/disinfo.md\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/studenti-germani.webp","datePublished":"2025-12-15T11:43:31+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/disinfo.md\/cum-au-descoperit-sapte-studenti-germani-legatura-dintre-nave-rusesti-si-roiurile-de-drone\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/disinfo.md\/cum-au-descoperit-sapte-studenti-germani-legatura-dintre-nave-rusesti-si-roiurile-de-drone\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/disinfo.md\/cum-au-descoperit-sapte-studenti-germani-legatura-dintre-nave-rusesti-si-roiurile-de-drone\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/disinfo.md\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/studenti-germani.webp","contentUrl":"https:\/\/disinfo.md\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/studenti-germani.webp","width":920,"height":728},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/disinfo.md\/cum-au-descoperit-sapte-studenti-germani-legatura-dintre-nave-rusesti-si-roiurile-de-drone\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Prima pagin\u0103","item":"https:\/\/disinfo.md\/en\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"How seven German students discovered the connection between Russian ships and drone swarms"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/disinfo.md\/#website","url":"https:\/\/disinfo.md\/","name":"DISINFO.MD monitorizeaz\u0103 propaganda, dezinformarea \u0219i \u0219tirile false din Republica Moldova","description":"monitoriz\u0103m propaganda \u0219i dezinformarea Now","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/disinfo.md\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/disinfo.md\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/disinfo.md\/#organization","name":"DISINFO.MD","url":"https:\/\/disinfo.md\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/disinfo.md\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/disinfo.md\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/logo-disinfo-new-alb-2.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/disinfo.md\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/logo-disinfo-new-alb-2.png","width":499,"height":151,"caption":"DISINFO.MD"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/disinfo.md\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/disinfo.md\/#\/schema\/person\/32d1f83c16a4238d17770077042863cb","name":"disinfo1","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7548aeed5e7b0a7c6301343694a9bd57b8794873022af285d1a0b809c4ff8c33?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7548aeed5e7b0a7c6301343694a9bd57b8794873022af285d1a0b809c4ff8c33?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7548aeed5e7b0a7c6301343694a9bd57b8794873022af285d1a0b809c4ff8c33?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"disinfo1"},"url":"https:\/\/disinfo.md\/en\/author\/disinfo1\/"}]}},"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/disinfo.md\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/99117","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/disinfo.md\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/disinfo.md\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/disinfo.md\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/14"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/disinfo.md\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=99117"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/disinfo.md\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/99117\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/disinfo.md\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/99111"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/disinfo.md\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=99117"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/disinfo.md\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=99117"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/disinfo.md\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=99117"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}