Hybrid war in Europe
Germany blames Russia for an explosive drone found at an airport that supplies Ukraine, and a month on, the EU is still looking for an answer that stops short of military means.
On 4 August 2026 a drone loaded with explosives was found beside a Ukrainian plane at Leipzig/Halle airport and defused. The airport is a freight hub used to fly supplies to Ukraine. Four weeks passed before Germany said who was behind it. On 1 September the interior minister, Alexander Dobrindt, said the government had concluded that Russia was responsible for what he called the hybrid attack in Leipzig.
Hybrid is what European governments call harm one state does to another without troops and without admitting it: sabotage, espionage, cyberattacks, disinformation. What put Leipzig in that class was the method, which Dobrindt said was known from other Russian operations. Von der Leyen called it a new escalation on EU soil and part of a broader pattern. Parts of that pattern are unattributed: a drone shot down over Romania on 16 August was the fourth destroyed there in 2026, and Romania's defence ministry did not identify its origin.
Germany was already widening what its spies may do. The cabinet approved an intelligence overhaul of more than 700 pages on 12 August, three weeks before Germany blamed Russia. Dobrindt said the point was to catch up with what is possible in other European countries. The reform would let the agencies hack hostile servers and, in rare cases, let the BND, the foreign intelligence service, run sabotage missions abroad. Assassinations stay strictly forbidden. The bill has still to pass the Bundestag; if it does, it takes effect early in 2027.
On 1 September Germany closed the Russian consulate in Bonn and cancelled the Russian House's agreement to operate in Berlin. Euronews reported on 2 September that the EU and Belgium had summoned Russia's ambassador in Brussels, France the chargé d'affaires and the Netherlands a diplomatic representative. Kaja Kallas, the EU's foreign policy chief, said that day that Leipzig had all the hallmarks of state sponsored terrorism. On 3 September Sergei Lavrov replied by closing the Goethe-Institut in Moscow, St Petersburg and Yekaterinburg.
In late July the five commissioners from eastern flank countries wrote to von der Leyen: Kaja Kallas, Henna Virkkunen, Valdis Dombrovskis, Andrius Kubilius and Piotr Serafin. They asked for a regional coordinator and faster money for Eastern Flank Watch, a programme against hybrid threats on the eastern border. The letter predates the drone, and is still the main proposal at Union level. Everything Europe has announced since the attribution is closures and summonses. Euronews reported that EU foreign ministers in Ireland struggled to find new answers short of military means.
”mounting security challenges on the Eastern Flank are undermining the EU's security as a whole”
The numbers
What the comparison shows
Where they agree
Germany's government and the Commission president tell the same story about Leipzig: Berlin concluded that Russia was responsible, and von der Leyen called it an escalation on EU soil directly attributed to Russia. Neither has proposed a military answer. Her own proposal is that everyday infrastructure be guarded as a frontline target.
Where they split
Berlin and Brussels treat the Leipzig drone as an attack by the Russian state. Putin dismissed the accusation, as reported by Euronews on 3 September. He said Berlin wants to distract from its own failings, and that any proof offered has been planted. Lavrov, the only Russian voice on this page, did not address it at all: in Vladivostok he spoke about the Russian House and what closing it would cost Germany.
What nobody is saying
No new sanctions had been adopted at Union level as of 3 September. Kallas said 1,600 people and entities had been added to a proposed list, which Euronews reported targets Russia mainly over the invasion of Ukraine, and said an informal ministers' meeting would confirm nothing. Germany's own bill would let the BND run sabotage abroad, the kind of act Berlin accuses Moscow of.
Who says what
Says Europe is in a new era of security and that the drone incidents are now the normal condition of it. Wants the EU to answer faster and better, and everyday infrastructure to be guarded as a frontline target.
”Europeans are faced with a hard truth, that this is the new normal”Europeans are faced with a hard truth, that this is the new normal
Announces a new era for services that until now mostly gathered information. Says Germany is catching up with what other European countries already let their secret services do.
”We are transforming our intelligence services into genuine secret services”We are transforming our intelligence services into genuine secret services
Says Germany knew that closing the Russian House would end its own cultural presence in Russia, and that any milder reply would show a lack of self-respect. Speaking in Vladivostok, he did not address the drone attribution.
Argue that the eastern flank cannot be run as a regional file, because what happens there undermines the security of the whole Union. Ask for one named official to act as the single point of contact for the EU countries bordering Russia.
”mounting security challenges on the Eastern Flank are undermining the EU's security as a whole”mounting security challenges on the Eastern Flank are undermining the EU's security as a whole
Our coverage
- Russia to shut three Goethe-Institut branches after Germany closes the Russian cultural centre in BerlinFriday, 4 September 2026
- Von der Leyen calls Russian drone sabotage Europe's 'new normal'Thursday, 3 September 2026
- Germany blames Russia for attempted drone attack, orders consulate closedWednesday, 2 September 2026
- EU's eastern-flank commissioners push for a special coordinator on regional securityFriday, 28 August 2026
- Swedish military seeks to seize property reportedly linked to Russian owner near naval baseWednesday, 26 August 2026
- Estonia warns of rising Russian influence risk as Sweden's election nearsMonday, 24 August 2026
- Romania destroys drone near its biggest Black Sea gas projectFriday, 21 August 2026
- A Spanish NATO jet shot down a drone over Romania, the fourth this yearMonday, 17 August 2026
- NATO shot down a drone over Latvia, and Turkish F-16s were scrambled tooSaturday, 15 August 2026
- NATO backs Poland and Romania after Russian airspace violationsThursday, 13 August 2026
- Germany gives its intelligence services the right to hack and sabotageThursday, 13 August 2026
- Säpo says it has stopped a Russian intelligence operation against SwedenWednesday, 12 August 2026
- Germany doubles its federal police anti-drone unit after the Leipzig airport incidentTuesday, 11 August 2026
- Germany warns of daily hybrid warfare after an explosive-laden drone is foundMonday, 10 August 2026
- Drone explodes near a Bulgarian gas pipeline station after crossing Romania undetectedSunday, 9 August 2026
- Lithuania warns Russia may stage a false-flag attack using Ukrainian dronesFriday, 7 August 2026