German authorities revealed that an explosive-laden drone was discovered at Leipzig Halle Airport on Wednesday before being successfully defused. The country's top security official warned that the incident signals a 'new quality of danger,' intensifying concerns over potential new Russian hybrid tactics across Europe. Both the runways at the major freight hub were closed and several flights, including one passenger plane, were diverted to other airports after a flying object was sighted nearby shortly before midnight Tuesday. An anti-explosives robot was deployed to check an object near the south runway.Regional police and prosecutors later said an airport employee discovered a drone near the airport's south runway with 'an unknown explosive device,' and the object was examined by police. They removed its detonator.That the drone was carrying explosives 'is a new quality of danger,' German Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt told reporters at the airport after interrupting his vacation to travel to the scene.'Drone sightings, drone threats including in a hybrid context, are something we know from the past,' he added. 'That a drone armed with explosives is at an airport is a new threat scenario.'Dobrindt described what happened as 'a hybrid attack scenario,' but didn't offer more details of authorities' assessment or specify who might be responsible. The drone (pictured) with explosives was found at Germany's Leipzig Halle Airport and the device was defused, authorities said Wednesday A bomb disposal robot deployed by police at German airport Leipzig-Halle after a drone was found near a Ukrainian plane A Ukrainian Antonov cargo plane stands at Leipzig/-alle Airport on August 5, 2026He said questions about details of the explosives, the origin of the drone and who was behind the incident were a matter for the ongoing investigation.Germany and other European countries have repeatedly observed drones flying over sensitive sites such as airports, military bases and industrial plants.Authorities in Germany, one of Ukraine's biggest military supporters, have said they suspect Russia of orchestrating many of the incidents as part of a campaign of sabotage, espionage and disinformation.Ukraine ambassador Oleksii Makeiev voiced suspicion that Moscow was behind the incident, telling Welt TV: 'Who else could it be but Russia?'The regional interior minister of Saxony state, Armin Schuster, said authorities were looking for parts of a possible second drone.Police and prosecutors said an apparent second flying object collided with a freight airplane after it aborted a landing at Leipzig Halle because the runway was closed.The plane flew to another German airport, Hannover, about 200 kilometers (125 miles) to the northwest, where officials found slight damage.The north runway at Leipzig/Halle was reopened after about two hours. The south runway was scheduled to be out of action for maintenance on Wednesday.Authorities said there was no danger to passengers or airport employees, and flights weren't affected during the day.Video footage from a local news agency showed the bomb disposal robot near an Antonov plane painted with the Ukrainian colours yellow and blue and with the words 'Be Brave Like Kherson' written on the side, a reference to a Ukrainian region battered by Russian strikes. The airport in eastern Germany plays a key role in the transport of military goods, including by the German military and NATO allies, and also serves as a base for Ukraine's Antonov Airlines.NATO said it was aware of the incident but referred queries to German authorities.In 2024, an incendiary device ignited at a logistics center at the airport and set fire to a freight container, part of a plot that Western security officials suspect Russian intelligence was behind. The flight it was supposed to take was delayed.Ukraine's ambassador Makeiev also pointed to the 2024 incident, saying: 'Indeed, Russia has long been waging this hybrid war.' A forensic technician works alongside a bomb-disposal robot near a Ukrainian aircraft at Leipzig Halle Airport Bomb disposal experts were dispatched shortly after the drone's discovery at Leipzig-Halle Airport around midnight last night near the parked plane Police forensic technicians prepare to deploy an explosive-disposal robot near a Ukrainian aircraft at Leipzig-Halle Airport, Germany, August 5, 2026 'Yet the word 'hybrid' somehow downplays the fact that Russia is waging war not only against Ukraine but also against Europe.'In May, Munich Airport halted all flights after a possible drone sighting, just one day after a Russian drone hit an apartment block in Romania.Munich Airport again was forced to close last October after several 'military' drones were spotted hovering over the travel hub.Federal police confirmed the drone sightings, but said no information on the type and size of the devices could be provided.That same week, German authorities said that they were investigating claims that unidentified drones may have spied on critical infrastructure in the northern state of Schleswig-Holstein.Multiple drones were spotted on September 25 over a power plant in the state capital of Kiel, as well as near a university hospital and a shipyard in the port city, according to German news outlet Der Spiegel.Western officials have accused Russia and its proxies of staging dozens of attacks and other incidents across Europe since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine more than four years ago.