German Airport on High Alert After Explosive Drone Is Found Near Ukrainian Aircraft at Major Cargo Hub

Police at one of Europe's busiest cargo hubs discovered a drone carrying an explosive device near Ukrainian cargo aircraft at Leipzig/Halle Airport in the early hours of Wednesday, putting the German facility on high alert overnight. Saxony police said an airport employee had spotted the suspect drone close to parked Antonov planes used by Ukraine, prompting an immediate security lockdown.

The discovery triggered a full bomb disposal response, with police deploying a specialist robot to the southern runway area. Officers and explosives experts identified a drone carrying what they described as an 'unidentified explosive device'. A specialist robot removed the detonator before explosives experts carried out a controlled explosion, according to Saxony police.

A police spokesperson said the drone had been found near aircraft operated by Antonov Airlines, which has used Leipzig/Halle as a base to move the bulk of Ukraine's aerial cargo during the war.

Cargo Plane Struck by Unknown Object After Leipzig Departure

The discovery came after a separate scare involving a second unidentified object that struck a cargo aircraft operated by DHL shortly after it departed from the same airport. The plane later landed in Hanover, where minor damage was found on its fuselage. Investigators are still trying to establish what struck it and whether the incident is linked to the explosive drone found on the ground.

Leipzig/Halle is not just a civilian logistics hub. It is also used by the German armed forces and NATO partners to transport military supplies, and doubles as a major base for DHL and Ukraine's Antonov fleet. Saxony's Interior Minister, Armin Schuster, called the discovery a 'very serious security incident', and counter-terror specialists have taken over the case, though officials have released little detail about who might be responsible.

Ukraine's ambassador to Germany, Oleksii Makeiev, was less restrained, telling Welt TV: 'Who else could it be but Russia?' His comment reflects a wider suspicion in Kyiv and across Europe that Moscow is using low-level sabotage, drones and parcel attacks to probe and disrupt Western infrastructure. Russia has not commented on the Leipzig incident and has previously denied involvement in other suspected sabotage operations.

Parcel Bombs and Espionage at Leipzig Hub

This is not the first time the airport has been linked to covert operations. In July 2024, a parcel burst into flames on the tarmac there before it could be loaded onto a DHL cargo plane, one of a string of incendiary parcel incidents affecting facilities serving the UK and EU.

Investigators later said the parcels contained explosive devices triggered by electronic timers hidden inside vibrating massage pillows. Western security services blamed Russian intelligence, a claim Moscow denied. Last year, a Chinese woman was convicted in Germany for passing information about flight schedules and cargo movements at Leipzig/Halle to a man working for Beijing, underlining the airport's attractiveness to foreign intelligence services given its mix of military traffic, Ukrainian cargo operations and high-volume commercial freight.

'The Drone War Has Reached Germany'

Security analysts say the latest scare fits a pattern that has emerged since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Peter R Neumann, a professor of security studies at King's College London, wrote on X that suspicious drone incidents in Germany had only started appearing after the invasion, adding: 'Since last night, the drone war has reached Germany. And it exposes a weakness that we've known about for years,' pointing to gaps in Europe's ability to detect and disable small unmanned aircraft.

Flights at Leipzig/Halle resumed partially at 01:55 local time, with operations restarting on the northern runway. The southern runway remains closed, officially for maintenance.