Ukrainian transport plane ‘filled with ammunition’ when attacked by strange drones in Germany

Information about the ammunition shipment on the Ukrainian An-124 aircraft was announced today, after a joint investigation by the press. Sueddeutsche Zeitung same radio and television station NDR and WDR conducted by Germany. However, they did not specifically state whether this was aid supplies to Ukraine or a shipment transported by Antonov Airlines within NATO.

German media agencies also quoted the content of a secret police report, which stated that the explosives attached to the drone that fell near the Ukrainian An-124 were military products with high destructive power, not ordinary homemade explosives.

Ukraine’s Strategic Communications Center (SPRAVDI) on the same day posted a photo of the drone lying on the ground and relatively close to the An-124 aircraft, adding that the detonator had a problem and could not detonate the explosives on the drone.

Saxony state police have not responded to a request for comment on information about the Ukrainian plane carrying ammunition.

These findings may make the anti-terrorism investigation related to the incident at Leipzig/Halle airport more serious, because this is a key facility in the military cargo transport network of the German armed forces and its NATO allies, classified as critical infrastructure.

Ukraine’s Antonov Airlines is also headquartered here, due to the conflict making its home base on the outskirts of Kiev unable to operate.

German police on August 5 issued an alarm at Leipzig/Halle airport, in the east of the country, after discovering a drone carrying explosives lying on the runway, near a Ukrainian An-124 transport plane. The demining robot was then deployed to neutralize and destroy the drone.

A cargo plane belonging to the DHL carrier had to cancel the landing and increase altitude because of a warning at Leipzig/Halle airport, then collided with an unidentified object at an altitude of 400 m and about 6 km from the runway. The plane landed safely in the city of Hanover and showed signs of minor damage, according to German police.

Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt said the incident signaled a “new level of danger”. “The technology used shows that this is not an amateur action. We are facing a professional mixed threat scenario,” he emphasized.

Police are continuing to search for debris from the unidentified object that hit the DHL cargo plane.

German officials have not yet determined the origin of these drones. Congressman Roderich Kiesewetter, a member of the German Parliament’s Intelligence Committee, and Ukrainian Ambassador to Germany Oleksii Makeiev both accused Russia of being responsible in the incident.

The Russian government has not yet commented on the information.