Ukrainian plane with ammunition was targeted by drone in Germany, says media

Several German media outlets, such as the Süddeutsche Zeitung newspaper and the NDR and WDR networks, released the information this Thursday (6).

The incident occurred on Wednesday (5), when workers at Leipzig-Halle airport discovered the device next to an An-124, one of the largest transport planes in the world, operated by Antonov Airlines.

The logistics company had its base near Kiev, but it was destroyed at the start of the 2022 Russian invasion. Additionally, the country's airspace is closed to commercial use. As a result, it began using the German airport as its operations center, as does the giant DHL, the largest company in the sector in the world.

The NATO military alliance also uses the site to distribute war material.

The exact nature of the cargo is not yet known, only that it came from France. If it was destined for Kiev's war effort, as seems presumptive, it could go by land or even be taken by plane to the Polish border or even on a more risky flight to Ukraine.

If this is confirmed, it would be the first attempted attack on a supply line for NATO members to assist Kiev in the war outside Ukrainian territory.

According to German media reports, analysis of the explosive carried by the quadcopter showed that it was of high power and for military use, not homemade material made with gasoline and fertilizers, as had initially been said.

As this is a so-called hybrid attack, designed to have authorship denied, the most obvious accusation against Russia tends to be just rhetoric. The Kremlin, which has not commented on the German case, has said several times that such insinuations are just Russophobic prejudice and propaganda.

German police, who searched the airport for more explosives on Thursday, are also looking for the remains of the object that hit a DHL cargo Boeing 757-200F that took off from Leipzig shortly before midnight on Wednesday. The suspicion is that it was another drone, and the plane diverted its route to Hannover, where it landed safely.

The incidents have reignited European concern about the use of drones in their territory. A study by the International Institute for Strategic Studies, London, analyzed 144 incidents from 2024 to 2026, concluding that they were linked to a Russian campaign to test NATO's defensive capabilities.

The country most affected by drones was Germany, with 56 reported incidents. In the case of Leipzig, the airport had 19 flights diverted until it reestablished its operations.

A sign of European reaction, even though the German government has not made any accusations against Moscow, came from Lithuania this Thursday.

The country's Defense Minister, Robertas Kaunas, said his intelligence service believes Russia could use drones captured from Ukraine to launch attacks against the three Baltic states - Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia, which were part of the Soviet Union and are on the front line of friction with the Kremlin.

According to Kaunas, the so-called "false flag" attack would be a way to reduce support for Kiev. In recent months, some Ukrainian drones have crashed in the Baltic area, but so far the cases have been considered accidents. Romania and Poland have also been affected by drones from both rivals.

In the military field, Ukraine continued its campaign with long-distance drones against the Russians this Thursday, killing two people in the Bryansk region, hitting two refineries and a warehouse of the Wildberries online commerce network.

The day before, Kiev had suffered a missile attack against commercial infrastructure similar to that hit in Russia, changing the level of the war, which is experiencing its most violent and deadliest phase for civilians since the outbreak of the conflict. Seventeen people died in the bombing of the capital.