Leipzig Drone Bomb

Security forces recorded six flights by suspected drones over the Bundeswehr logistics base at Mechernich in North Rhine-Westphalia on the night of August 7, including one that circled police officers positioned on the ground, according to a confidential police report. The unmanned aircraft were preliminarily identified as Fly-380 VTOL models, capable of carrying payloads exceeding 10 kilograms over distances of up to 400 kilometres.

The base, a key logistics hub housing specialists who maintain U.S. Patriot air defence systems, handed the case to Euskirchen police, who opened an investigation.

The sightings came after an explosive-laden drone was found near a Ukrainian transport aircraft at Leipzig/Halle airport on August 5. The federal prosecutor's office has taken over the Leipzig investigation, with Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt declining to rule out foreign state involvement in what authorities are investigating as a suspected sabotage attempt possibly linked to Moscow.

German police have arrested a 33-year-old Ukrainian citizen on suspicion of spying on a weapons manufacturer in Bavaria, in a case authorities say underscores a new dimension of hybrid threats against the country.

The suspect was detained on Sunday in the eastern state of Thuringia and a Munich court issued an arrest warrant on Monday. Investigators believe he photographed the arms production facility in June and transmitted the images to a contact acting on behalf of a foreign intelligence service. He remains in pre-trial detention in a Bavarian prison.

The investigation was coordinated by Germany's newly established joint centre for countering hybrid threats, inaugurated in June. Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt warned of an escalating threat landscape, pointing to the separate discovery of an explosive drone at Leipzig airport and suggesting a state actor could be behind it.