German security authorities are treating the discovery of a drone fitted with a suspected explosive device near a Ukrainian cargo aircraft at Leipzig/Halle Airport as a possible attack, placing the country on heightened alert.
The incident prompted Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt to interrupt his holiday in Italy and return for an emergency security briefing.
The drone was found at 23:42 on 4 August by a staff member of the ground-handling company PortGround.
It was lying on the apron only a few metres from a Ukrainian Antonov Airlines An-124 freighter.
Federal police classified the object as a possible unconventional explosive and incendiary device.
Initial tests indicated the presence of explosive nitrates.
A detonator was recovered from the attached package; investigators believe the device failed to detonate only because the detonator had detached.
Bomb-disposal specialists deployed a robot, initially prepared a controlled explosion, and later decided to preserve the package in a special container for forensic examination.
Security sources told German media they regard the episode as an attempted attack.
A NATO spokesman confirmed that the alliance had been informed of the sighting near the Ukrainian aircraft and that the investigation is being led by German authorities.
Separately, a DHL-operated Airbus A300 freighter collided with an unidentified object roughly six kilometres from the airport at about 400 metres altitude and diverted to Hanover with minor nose damage.
Lower Saxony police are treating that incident as a possible state-security offence and have not ruled out sabotage.
Leipzig/Halle is Germany’s second-largest cargo airport and a major European logistics hub.
it is also a long-standing base for NATO’s Strategic Airlift International Solution (SALIS) programme.
Ukrainian Antonov An-124 aircraft based there provide heavy-lift capacity for the Bundeswehr and other NATO allies, regularly transporting military equipment including armoured vehicles and helicopters.
After Russian forces destroyed Antonov’s home base at Hostomel near Kyiv in 2022, the German airport became the carrier’s main overseas hub and has handled military and dual-use cargo linked to support for Ukraine.
The airport has previously featured in security investigations, including a 2024 plot involving incendiary devices in packages that is still before the courts.
Flight operations were suspended overnight. Several aircraft, including a Marabu Airlines passenger flight from Palma de Mallorca, were diverted. Services on the northern runway resumed at 01:55, while the southern runway remained closed for forensic work.
Ukrainian ambassador Oleksii Makeiev told Welt TV that Russia was the most likely perpetrator of hybrid attacks against Europe and offered to share Ukrainian experience in countering drones.
The episode forms part of a wider pattern of unauthorised drone activity that has disrupted European military sites, energy terminals and logistics hubs in recent months.
No group has claimed responsibility and no arrests have been announced.
