Germany news: Explosive drone defused at Leipzig airport
Deutsche Welle · LC · trust 63/100
A German airport was disrupted for hours after an explosive-laden drone was discovered near one of the runways. Investigators are examining a possible political motive. DW has the latest.
https://p.dw.com/p/5IIFf Specialist teams managed to disarm the drone after an hoursong deployment Image: Hendrik Schmidt/dpa/picture alliance Advertisement Skip next section What you need to know What you need to know Federal police defused an explosive device found on a drone at Leipzig/Halle Airport Investigators are also examining a second object that hit a cargo aircraft A lightning strike disabled two railway crossing barriers, effectively splitting a German town in two A German employers' organization warns against the watering down of government pension reforms Here is a roundup of top stories from and about Germany on Wednesday, August 5, 2026:
Tired of missing our real-time updates? Click here to add DW as a Preferred Source on Google.
08/05/2026 August 5, 2026 Drone recovered near Ukrainian plane The plane had the inscirption 'Be brave like Kherson' Image: Hendrik Schmidt/dpa/picture alliance Local news reported that the bomb disposal robot disabled the drone near an Antonov plane painted with the yellow and blue of the Ukrainian flag.
The words "Be Brave Like Kherson" were written on the side in English, in a reference to a Ukrainian region battered by Russian strikes .
Leipzig airport is a key transport hub for military goods by the German armed forces and NATO allies and it also serves as a base for Ukraine's Antonov Airlines.
Marc Henrichmann, the conservative chairman of the German parliament's intelligence oversight committee, said that the incident in Leipzig looked like "an attempt to target a company of importance for Ukraine"
If confirmed, it "would represent a new level of escalation in these sorts of attacks," Henrichmann told the Rheinische Post newspaper.
Russia has not commented on the incident.
Russia steps up drone attacks on Ukraine's Kherson To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video
08/05/2026 August 5, 2026 Germany has seen repeated drone and sabotage incidents The Leipzig airport incident comes after years of drone sightings over sensitive sites in Germany and other NATO allies since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022 .
The drone flyovers were reported above other airports, but also over military bases and industrial facilities.
German authorities have accused Russia of orchestrating many such incidents as part of a wider campaign involving sabotage, espionage and disinformation. Moscow has denied involvement.
Leipzig/Halle Airport was already at the center of a suspected sabotage plot in July 2024, when a parcel caught fire before it could be loaded onto a DHL cargo aircraft. Security services treated the incident as potentially linked to Russia.
Last year, a Chinese national was also convicted of passing information about flight schedules and cargo movements at Leipzig/Halle Airport to a man accused of spying for Beijing.
Ukraine's ambassador to Germany, Oleksii Makeiev, commented on the latest case by drawing a link to the 2024 DHL incident.
"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."
08/05/2026 August 5, 2026 German Interior Minister Dobrindt cuts short holiday over Leipzig drone incident German Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt has interrupted his holiday to travel to Leipzig/Halle Airport for security talks following the drone incident.
He is due to meet Saxony Interior Minister Armin Schuster and senior federal and state security officials at the scene, his ministry said.
The head of Germany's federal police Dieter Romann and domestic intelligence chief Sinan Selen are also expected to attend.
Dobrindt is then due to brief the media later in the day.
Schuster earlier warned of a "very serious security incident."
He said state and federal security agencies were working closely together, including Germany's joint center for countering hybrid threats and the federal police's drone defense unit.
08/05/2026 August 5, 2026 Explosive-laden drone defused at Leipzig airport Flights were put on hold for a short time after the discovery of the initial drone Image: Tobias Junghanns/dpa/picture alliance German federal police specialists have defused a drone carrying an explosive device after an overnight security incident at Leipzig/Halle Airport.
Officials said the detonator has been removed from an as-yet unidentified explosive device. Authorities say they are not ruling out a political motive, noting that the airport in eastern Germany forms part of the country's critical infrastructure .
The drone carrying the explosive device was found late on Wednesday by an airport employee on the southern runway, according to investigators.
Another flying object later apparently collided with a cargo aircraft, which had aborted its landing after the initial alert and had remained in the air.
Minor damage was discovered after the aircraft landed in Hanover.
Flight operations were initially halted completely after the drone was found.
The northern runway was eventually reopened following a large-scale security sweep overnight, while the southern runway was due to remain closed on Wednesday for maintenance.
Investigators said there was no danger to passengers or airport staff and that passenger flights were not affected.
08/05/2026 August 5, 2026 Court rules owner can criticize restaurant online after her dog ate mouse poison there A German court has ruled in favor of a woman who publicly criticized a restaurant after her dachshund ate mouse poison while she was dining there.
The Frankfurt Higher Regional Court rejected the restaurant operator's attempt to stop her from describing the incident on Instagram and a review platform.
…
Read the original at Deutsche Welle →
Open in TruthVane →