Drone bomb at German airport WAS Russian, US experts say

US intelligence believes Russia was behind a drone bomb attack on a major German airport last week, according to reports.

The explosives-laden drone was discovered near a Ukrainian cargo plane at Leipzig Halle Airport, one of Europe's biggest freight hubs and a key transit point for military supplies.

American intelligence agencies have now assessed that Russian secret services were likely behind the attack, US media reported, although German authorities have yet to publicly name a culprit.

Investigators have also reportedly found DNA on the drone matching a sample recovered after a suspected Russian sabotage attack at the same airport two years ago.

In that incident, an incendiary device hidden in a DHL parcel caught fire at the Leipzig hub in July 2024.

The package had been due to travel on a cargo plane but the flight was delayed, narrowly avoiding the possibility of the device igniting in mid-air.

Five men accused over a wider series of incendiary parcel attacks are currently on trial in Lithuania, where prosecutors allege they were recruited by Russian intelligence.

The latest attack prompted German Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt to cut short his holiday in Italy and travel to Leipzig, warning it represented a 'new quality of danger'.

Dobrindt described the incident as part of a 'professional hybrid threat scenario' involving a well-equipped foreign actor.

Both runways at the major freight hub were closed and several flights, including one passenger plane, were diverted after a flying object was sighted near the airport shortly before midnight last Tuesday.

An anti-explosives robot was deployed after an airport employee discovered the drone near the south runway with an explosive device attached.

Police examined the device and removed its detonator.

'Drone sightings, drone threats including in a hybrid context, are something we know from the past,' Dobrindt said.

'That a drone armed with explosives is at an airport is a new threat scenario.'

German authorities have not publicly attributed the attack to Russia and their investigation remains ongoing.

Russia has denied involvement, with its embassy in Berlin describing the incident as a 'fabricated provocation' and accusing critics of blaming Moscow without evidence. 

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.

Ukraine's ambassador Oleksii Makeiev voiced suspicion that Moscow was behind the incident, telling Welt TV: 'Who else could it be but Russia?'

The regional interior minister of Saxony state, Armin Schuster, said authorities were looking for parts of a possible second drone.

Police and prosecutors said an apparent second flying object collided with a freight airplane after it aborted a landing at Leipzig Halle because the runway was closed.

The plane flew to another German airport, Hannover, about 200 kilometers (125 miles) to the northwest, where officials found slight damage.

The north runway at Leipzig/Halle was reopened after about two hours.

Authorities said there was no danger to passengers or airport employees.

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 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.

NATO said it was aware of the incident but referred queries to German authorities.

Makeiev also pointed to the 2024 incident, saying: 'Indeed, Russia has long been waging this hybrid war.'