Drone with explosive device found near Ukrainian cargo plane at German airport
A drone with an explosive device was found at Germany's Leipzig/Halle Airport and a detonator was removed from the object, authorities said Wednesday.
Both the airport's runways were closed and several flights, including one passenger plane, were diverted to other airports after a flying object was sighted nearby shortly before midnight, police said, and an anti-explosives robot was deployed to check an object near the south runway.
A statement later Wednesday from Saxony's state criminal police office and prosecutors in the state capital of Dresden said that an airport employee discovered a drone near the airport's south runway with “an unknown explosive device,” and the object was examined by police. They removed its detonator. The statement didn't elaborate on the nature of the device.
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Ukraine ambassador Oleksii Makeiev voiced suspicion that Moscow was behind the incident, telling Welt TV: "Who else could it be but Russia?"
The airport in eastern Germany plays a key role in the transport of military goods, including by the German military and NATO allies, and also serves as a base for Ukraine's Antonov Airlines.
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Video footage from a local news agency showed the bomb disposal robot near an Antonov plane painted with the Ukrainian colours yellow and blue and with the words "Be Brave Like Kherson" written on the side, a reference to a Ukrainian region battered by Russian strikes. The drone was found near a Ukrainian-flagged Antonov plane
Bild also reported that the plane that collided with an unknown object mid-air was a DHL cargo aircraft that was hit about six kilometres (four miles) away, sustaining minor damage on the nose that was discovered when it later landed safely at Hanover airport.
German police first reported on Wednesday morning that a "security-related incident" had temporarily halted flights to the airport.
"Shortly before midnight, an unidentified flying object was sighted near Leipzig-Halle Airport, prompting the diversion of several aircraft – including a passenger plane – to other airports", they said in a statement.
A passenger plane from Mallorca as well as several cargo planes heading there had to be sent to other locations.
"In addition, an object was detected near the southern runway, which was initially examined by the federal police, a process that involved the deployment of an explosives disposal robot," police said, without saying whether it was detonated.
Regular traffic at the airport resumed in the early hours of Wednesday but only on the northern runway, while investigators looked for clues on the southern runway.
Series of drone sightings
An interior ministry spokesman later said: "I can confirm that the drone was found at Leipzig-Halle Airport. Beyond that, I unfortunately cannot say anything at the moment."
Regarding the mid-air incident, he said that a plane "was meant to land in Leipzig but then had to abort the landing".
"It then collided with an object," he said, adding that it landed safely but declining to provide further information. Germany and other European countries have repeatedly observed drones flying over sensitive sites such as airports, military bases and industrial plants
Germany and other European countries have repeatedly observed drones flying over sensitive sites such as airports, military bases and industrial plants.
Authorities in Germany, one of Ukraine's biggest military supporters, have said they suspect Russia of orchestrating many of the incidents as part of a campaign of sabotage, espionage and disinformation.
In July 2024 a parcel burst into flames on the ground at Leipzig airport before it could be loaded onto a DHL cargo plane, part of what security services treated as a suspected Moscow-linked arson sabotage plot.
Russia has denied being behind any such incidents.
Last year a Chinese national was convicted for passing on information about flight schedules and cargo movements at Leipzig-Halle airport to a man spying for Beijing.
Ukraine's ambassador Makeiev also pointed to the 2024 incident involving a DHL parcel in Leipzig.
"Indeed, Russia has long been waging this hybrid war," he said. "Yet the word 'hybrid' somehow downplays the fact that Russia is waging war not only against Ukraine but also against Europe."
(FRANCE 24 with AFP and AP)