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Automatically translated version. May contain inaccuracies compared to the original.
Now it is clearer how exactly the drone approached the plane — with an obvious intent to damage it. Collage by UNIAN, photo ua.depositphotos.com At the Leipzig/Halle Airport, an assault drone deliberately crashed into a Ukrainian freight aircraft, but did not explode. This is stated by the newspaper Die Zeit, whose journalists reviewed CCTV footage.
According to information obtained by Die Zeit, the video shows an Antonov cargo plane parked at the airport. The object was flying directly toward this plane on Tuesday, 4 August, 19:30. Ultimately, it struck one of the wings.
"Wings are sensitive parts of the aircraft, because they usually contain fuel tanks. Anyone who wants to blow up an aircraft would have planted a bomb there. However, this did not happen in Leipzig. In the video, the object bounces off the wing and falls to the ground. Traces on one of the Antonov’s wings confirm this probable sequence of events. Why the explosive device did not detonate remains unclear," the journalists write.
The drone was discovered only four hours later by accident. The explosive device, contrary to previous information, was found not on the drone itself but at some distance from it. It likely detached during the collision with the aircraft.
The publication emphasizes that this provides new knowledge for the staff of the Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA), who have taken over the investigation. Now it is clearer how exactly the drone approached the plane — with an obvious intent to damage it.
So far one of the investigation’s hypotheses was that it might have been a kind of warning. But at present it is clear that this hypothesis is unlikely to be substantiated.
The journalists stress that the investigation has not yet produced clear evidence that Russia is behind the attempted attack. However, several details point to highly professional criminals, since the drone was not purchased on a commercial basis but was made to order.
"Since this was so-called a non-commercial drone, it could not be detected by ordinary radar. The explosive device, with which it was equipped, was so powerful that it could have blown up the aircraft. Although it is sometimes available on the black market, it is usually used by the military. Therefore, involvement of a state actor in the attack — in any case — is one of the increasingly plausible investigative hypotheses," the material states.
The Leipzig airport incident — what is known.
As UNIAN reported, American intelligence believes that the appearance of an explosive UAV at Leipzig/Halle Airport in Germany was probably initiated by the Russian government. The drone was detected on Tuesday evening on the runway in a safe zone near the Ukrainian freight plane. As a result of the incident, the airport had to be closed for the night.
Germany’s Interior Minister, Alexander Docker, called the situation a fundamentally new threat. According to the minister, the investigation must determine who was behind the drone launch.
The drone incident emerged amid new assessments by American intelligence regarding Kremlin plans. According to U.S. intelligence services, Russian leader Vladimir Putin may attempt in the coming years to test NATO’s willingness to respond to a limited attack against one of the Alliance’s countries.
Document: PDF proof of the original version of the news item "Дрон із вибухівкою в Лейпцигу: ЗМІ пишуть про нові деталі інциденту з українським літаком". It records the publication content at the moment of the first scan, the preservation date and the source: UNIAN.
