German police raised the alarm at Leipzig-Halle Airport overnight after an explosives-laden drone was found near a Ukrainian cargo plane. The incident led to the diversion of all flights for several hours as authorities deployed a bomb-disposal robot to remove the detonator from the unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) discovered on the tarmac.
The airport, a key transport hub for military goods and a base for Ukraine's Antonov Airlines, experienced heightened security concerns following the discovery. Video footage showed the bomb disposal robot near an Antonov plane, painted with the Ukrainian flag and bearing the message 'Be Brave Like Kherson'—a reference to a region under Russian assault.
Ukraine's ambassador to Germany, Oleksii Makeiev, implicated Russia in the incident, stating, 'Who else could it be but Russia?' Authorities have not yet commented on the origin of the drone, but Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt described the incident as 'a new level of danger' and a 'professional hybrid threat scenario.'
In a separate incident, another aircraft collided with an unknown flying object mid-air before safely landing in Hanover. Leipzig-Halle Airport resumed regular traffic early Wednesday, but investigations continue on the southern runway.
Germany and other European countries have observed UAVs near sensitive sites, with authorities suspecting Russia of orchestrating such incidents. Russia denies any involvement in these activities.
