A drone carrying an explosive device has been found at a German airport, police say.

A robot was deployed at Leipzig/Halle Airport after the device was spotted by an employee near Ukrainian cargo planes overnight, according to Saxony police. A second unidentified object also collided with a cargo aircraft near the same airport. It landed in Hanover with minor damage.

Germany’s interior minister said the incidents showed a “new level of threat”.

German airports are on high alert following several unauthorised drone flights in recent months over military bases, airports, energy terminals, seaports and logistics companies. Police have warned of a potential Russian involvement which Moscow has denied.

Leipzig/Halle Airport in eastern Germany is used by the Germany military and Nato allies for the transport of military goods and also serves as a base for Ukraine’s Antonov Airlines – which carry most of the country’s aerial cargo.

It is also a major hub for the logistics group, DHL.

A police spokesman told the BBC that the explosive-laden object had been spotted close to parked Antonov planes.

The detonator was removed from the explosive device. Police later carried out a controlled explosion. Flights on the northern runway resumed at 01:55 (23:55 GMT on Tuesday). The southern runway remains closed.

“All of this does not point to an amateurish approach. We are talking about a professional, hybrid threat scenario that we will continue to address,” German Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt said.

He did not name any suspects, but suggested the investigation may point to a possible “competition” that “may also involve foreign powers”.

Ukraine’s Ambassador to Germany Oleksii Makeiev told Welt TV: “Who else could it be but Russia?”

Russia has not commented.

Similar incidents with suspicious drones in Germany have only happened since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Peter R Neumann, a professor of Security Studies at King’s College London, said on X.

“Since last night, the drone war has reached Germany. And it exposes a weakness that we’ve known about for years,” he said.

In July 2024 a parcel burst into flames on the ground at Leipzig/Halle Airport before it could be loaded onto a DHL cargo plane, one of a series of parcel fires that targeted the UK and EU countries.

There are suspicions it could have been sabotage linked to Moscow.

The parcels had contained explosive devices that were set off by electronic timers hidden in vibrating massage pillows, according to authorities.

Russia has denied any involvement in those incidents.

Last year a Chinese woman was convicted for passing on information about flight schedules and cargo movements at Leipzig/Halle Airport to a man spying for Beijing.