A Kremlin intermediary contacted Berlin after the attack and warned that Leipzig would not be the last target, The Wall Street Journal reported, citing people familiar with the matter. Russian authorities reject allegations of involvement in sabotage across Europe.

Associates of German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said Berlin would have considered invoking NATO’s collective defence clause had the attack caused numerous casualties. Investigators assessed that a successful strike could have caused major damage and loss of life.

Three drones aimed at aircraft

German officials cited by the newspaper said three drones carrying explosives were directed towards aircraft at Leipzig/Halle. One struck an Antonov transport plane but did not explode. A second reportedly collided with another aircraft, while the third exploded near the airport boundary.

German investigators linked the attack to a department within SSD, a structure of Russia’s military intelligence service, the GRU, according to the newspaper. The drones reportedly carried German 5G SIM cards, allowing operators to control them remotely over the internet. They reportedly communicated through servers previously used by the GRU.

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The exact date of the attack and the identities of the drone operators remain unclear.

A warning to Berlin and the NATO question

US intelligence services viewed the Leipzig incident as one of the first operations in an intensified sabotage campaign against NATO countries, the newspaper said. European sources said the decision to expand those operations had been taken at the highest level of Russia’s leadership.

The reported warning from the Kremlin intermediary came after the airport attack failed. Merz’s associates described possible recourse to NATO’s Article 5 as conditional on the attack having caused numerous casualties.

Article 5 treats an armed attack on one alliance member as an attack on all. It has been invoked only once, after the September 11, 2001 attacks in the United States. A response under the clause does not automatically require military force.

Other incidents across Europe

Since August, authorities have linked several other incidents across Europe to sabotage. These include fires at drone factories in Estonia and Poland. Slovak authorities also said they thwarted a plan to set fire to a Ukrainian drone factory.

Poland, Lithuania and Bulgaria reported attacks on Starlink satellite communications stations. Merchant ships also faced drone attacks in the Black Sea near Bulgarian and Romanian waters.

Serbian prosecutors said seven people had been arrested and accused of belonging to a group that acquired and stored explosives and drones before transporting them to European Union countries.