Investigators are exploring whether Kyiv staged a false-flag operation to push Berlin deeper into the conflict with Moscow, sources say.
A loud bang in a ghost village
Germany is not ruling out Ukrainian involvement in the drone incident at Leipzig/Halle Airport, according to a report by Die Zeit. Kyiv possesses extensive expertise in drone operations and could conceivably have an interest in staging a false-flag attack — one designed to look Russian — in order to galvanise Berlin into providing even greater support in its confrontation with Moscow.
Local residents heard a loud bang. Investigators later discovered signs of an explosion, according to information obtained by Die Zeit. It may have been intended to destroy evidence. But who is behind it?
No one lives in Kursdorf any more — not a single person. A village entrance sign remains, along with a tiny church and several poorly maintained houses. But the residents left because the neighbouring Leipzig/Halle Airport kept expanding. By all accounts, Kursdorf is a place of abandonment. Yet when it comes to a suspected act of terrorism at the airport, this is where answers may still be found.
A witness, a blast and a clock
A handful of small businesses have set up in this “ghost village”: a craft workshop, a car repair garage and a postal service branch. One of those who works there remembers the evening of August 4 very clearly. That was when a drone carrying explosives was discovered at the airport.
The man says he heard a bang that was louder than a pistol shot. It was more like an explosion. He made a point of checking his watch: it was 7.19 p.m. He later told police investigators the same account. So did an explosion occur in the immediate vicinity of the airport on the very evening the drone was found? The public has not yet been told.
A drone falls onto a Ukrainian Antonov
What is known is this: roughly ten minutes after the man in the ghost village says he heard the blast, a drone appeared at Leipzig Airport. It was not particularly large and had four rotors — a quadcopter. Attached to it was an explosive device that it could drop.
That Tuesday evening, several Ukrainian Antonov cargo planes were parked at the airport. Among other things, they were transporting military supplies for Ukraine. Video footage later analysed by investigators shows that at around 7.30 p.m., an object fell directly onto the wing of one of these aircraft — precisely where fuel tanks are normally located. No explosion occurred, for reasons that remain unclear. The object seen in the footage appears to be the drone, which evidently bounced off the wing. Corresponding marks were later found on the aircraft.
It took another four hours that Tuesday before the drone was discovered. A bus driver was passing the Antonov after taking a group of tourists on a tour of the airport grounds. He spotted the quadcopter, stepped out of the bus, examined it briefly, then nudged it with his foot before alerting security staff. Drones are prohibited in the airport area, and any appearance triggers an alert.
A second object, still missing
That night in Leipzig, take-offs and landings were temporarily suspended. Aircraft already on approach were forced to climb again. One of them collided at an altitude of around 400 metres with another object, which has still not been found. Could it also have been a drone?
At the very least, the federal interior ministry is operating on that assumption. According to one theory, this second drone may have been connected to the attack. It could have been used to monitor the runway from the air — or as a kind of guidance device. For now, however, this remains only a theory. Despite extensive searches, no remains of this second object have been recovered.
Signs of an explosion — and a relay station
More concrete, and potentially more useful, is what happened in the abandoned settlement of Kursdorf. Passers-by observed police combing the area. According to information obtained by Die Zeit, traces of the very explosion the witness heard were discovered during that search.
Moreover, an antenna and what appeared to be a relay station were reportedly found in the immediate vicinity — technical equipment that could have been used to boost the drone’s signal over the airport. The explosion, in turn, may have been intended to destroy evidence.
Perhaps — and that word matters. For although Die Zeit has learned from sources close to the investigation that a link between the events in Kursdorf and the airport incident is being considered, there is no proof. Germany’s federal prosecutor general has stressed that the investigation is ongoing.
A professional operation
What is clear is that both the blast in Kursdorf and the drone falling onto the airport grounds occurred almost simultaneously. And that Kursdorf overlooks the airport. As the crow flies, the Antonov was only a few hundred metres away.
It now appears increasingly likely that the perpetrators operated with extreme caution and professionalism — both in planning the attack and in building the drone. Such unmanned aircraft are not commercially available; it appears to have been custom-made. Furthermore, it carried a warhead based on Semtex, an explosive that, while obtainable on the black market, is primarily used by military forces.
A state-sponsored attack?
What conclusions follow? It is not only investigators at the Federal Criminal Police Office who are now developing theories; experts at the interior ministry are doing the same. Hypotheses are needed to open new lines of inquiry — and to consider a political response.
It is considered plausible that the operation was commissioned by a state. The one theory is that Ukraine is among the suspects. Kyiv understands drones and could have an interest in a false-flag operation — an attack designed to look Russian, with the aim of encouraging the German public to engage even more actively in the struggle against Moscow.
