Media: Drone that flew near Ukrainian An-124 in Leipzig could have been shot down by bus driver

A drone flying near a Ukrainian An-124 plane in Leipzig may have been shot down by a bus driver who was conducting a tour of the airport. According to another version, the driver found the drone already on the ground and simply flipped it over.

Welt writes about this with reference to a police report.

The drone was discovered on August 4 at around 11:42 PM by a PortGround employee on the airport apron. German security authorities are treating the incident as a possible attempted terrorist attack. According to preliminary investigation data, the drone was equipped with Semtex explosives.

Ukrainian airline Antonov regularly uses Leipzig Airport as a base for transport aircraft. Since the start of the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine, six of the airlineʼs aircraft have been based there.

What preceded

On August 5, a drone with explosives and a detonator was discovered near a Ukrainian plane at the airport in Leipzig, Germany.

Leipzig Airport is used for weapons cargo transportation. At the time, German police classified the incident as a state security offense. They did not rule out a possible sabotage attack.

German Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt commented on the incident and said that it was “a new level of danger”. According to him, this was a professional “hybrid attack scenario”. Dobrindt emphasized that the people behind this had a high level of technical training and experience working with explosives, so this was definitely not an “amateur approach”.

The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry reported that no one was injured in the incident, and the Antonov aircraft were not damaged.

On August 7, the German Interior Ministry denied that the Ukrainian plane had military ammunition. German media reported on the presence of weapons.

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