A forensic technician works alongside a bomb-disposal robot near a Ukrainian aircraft at Leipzig/Halle Airport. Photo / Getty Images
German police raised the alarm at an airport overnight after an explosives-laden drone was found near a Ukrainian cargo plane and another aircraft collided with an unknown flying object nearby before landing safely.
All flights to Leipzig-Halle Airport were diverted for several hours from around midnight as police deployed a
bomb-disposal robot to remove the detonator from the explosive in the drone.
The unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) had been found on the tarmac.
The airport in eastern Germany plays a key role in the transport of military goods by the German armed forces and Nato allies. It also serves as a base for Ukraine’s Antonov Airlines.
Video footage from a local news agency showed the bomb disposal robot 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 – a reference to a Ukrainian region battered by Russian strikes.
Ukraine’s ambassador to Germany Oleksii Makeiev blamed Moscow. “Who else could it be but Russia?” he said on Welt TV.
Authorities have said the investigation is ongoing. Moscow had made no comment so far.
Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt was heading to the scene to confer with security officials, the Bild daily reporting he had cut short his holiday in Italy.
German police first reported on Wednesday morning that a “security-related incident” had temporarily halted flights to the airport, which is also a major hub for logistics company DHL.
“Shortly before midnight, an unidentified flying object was sighted near Leipzig-Halle Airport, prompting the diversion of several aircraft – including a passenger plane – to other airports”, they said.
“In addition, an object was detected near the southern runway, which was initially examined by the federal police, a process that involved the deployment of an explosives disposal robot,” police said.
Police later confirmed that a police unit using a robot had “removed the detonator from the explosive attachment”.
Bild first reported that a DHL cargo plane had aborted its landing after the alarm then collided with an unknown object mid-air about 6km away at an altitude of 400m.
Police confirmed that “a suspected second unidentified flying object collided with a cargo aircraft” and that “minor damage to the aircraft was discovered after it landed in Hanover”.