An explosive-armed drone was discovered late Tuesday near a Ukrainian plane at Leipzig/Halle Airport, a major European freight hub, leading to the temporary shutdown of runways and an investigation into what German officials are calling a hybrid attack scenario. The incident prompted authorities to issue a warning about a "new quality of danger."
Police found the drone, which carried an "unknown explosive device," near the airport's south runway. An explosives-disposal robot was used to examine the device before its detonator was removed. The plane it was found near bore the colors of the Ukrainian flag and the slogan "Be Brave Like Kherson."
Shortly before midnight, another flying object was spotted, and a cargo aircraft attempting to land at the airport diverted to Hannover Airport after aborting its approach due to the runway closure. The aircraft sustained minor damage.
German Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt stated that an explosive-armed drone at an airport represents a novel threat. "Drone sightings, drone threats, including in a hybrid context, are something we know from the past," Dobrindt said Wednesday. "That a drone armed with explosives is at an airport is a new threat scenario."
Dobrindt confirmed that investigations are underway to determine the type of explosives, the drone's construction, its origin, and who is responsible. "All the speculation that is currently going on about the explosives, the construction, the question of the drone, the origin and, of course, who is behind it, is now part of the investigation," he said.
Leipzig/Halle Airport is a significant European cargo hub, and Ukrainian Antonov transport aircraft are based there. NATO has acknowledged awareness of the incidents but referred questions to German authorities.
Ukraine's ambassador to Germany, Oleksii Makeiev, suggested potential Russian involvement. In 2024, an incendiary device ignited a freight container at a logistics center at the same airport, an incident that Western security officials suspect was part of a Russian intelligence sabotage operation.
In June, Dobrindt inaugurated Germany's Joint Centre for Countering Hybrid Threats, an agency formed to address espionage, sabotage, and disinformation threats.