Cyprus has expressed solidarity with Germany following a Russian drone attack at Leipzig Airport, Foreign Minister Constantinos Kombos said on Wednesday, warning that threats to critical infrastructure are a concern for the whole of Europe.
Writing on X, Kombos said Cyprus "stands in solidarity with Germany following the Russian drone attack at Leipzig Airport" and that "threats to critical infrastructure concern us all." He added that European unity, resilience and close coordination were essential to responding to such threats and safeguarding common security.
🇨🇾 stands in solidarity with 🇩🇪 following the Russian drone attack at Leipzig Airport.
— Constantinos Kombos (@ckombos) September 1, 2026
Threats to critical infrastructure concern us all. European unity, resilience and close coordination are essential in responding to threats and safeguarding our common security.@AussenMinDE…
The incident took place overnight on 4 August, when a drone carrying explosives was found near a Ukrainian cargo aircraft at Leipzig/Halle Airport, prompting the airport's temporary closure. A second drone collided with a Boeing cargo plane that had to abort its landing because of the closure. The airport is a major hub for freight and hosts NATO's Strategic Airlift International Solution mission, which delivers military equipment to NATO forces along the alliance's eastern flank, and it is also the base for Ukraine's Antonov cargo airline since Russia destroyed the carrier's home airfield near Kyiv in 2022.
Berlin's accusation
The German government on Tuesday formally blamed Russia for the attack, nearly a month after the incident. Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt said investigators had found the drone's configuration, components and detonator matched patterns "known to us from other Russian hybrid operations," and that evidence pointed to a high degree of technical expertise behind the plan, even if the operation on the ground appeared to have been carried out by low-level agents. Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul said Germany had summoned Russia's ambassador and would close Moscow's consulate general in Bonn and the Russian House cultural centre in Berlin. Wadephul added that Germany would also push for further EU sanctions and travel restrictions on Russian nationals, and for tougher measures against Russia's so-called shadow fleet.
Russia has denied any involvement. Speaking at the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation summit in Bishkek, President Vladimir Putin dismissed the German accusations, suggesting the evidence had been fabricated.
Part of a wider pattern
German officials have linked the Leipzig incident to a broader campaign of sabotage and disruption that Western governments have attributed to Moscow in recent months, including suspicious drone sightings over military and industrial sites across the country and a 2024 incendiary device that damaged a freight container at the same airport. Chancellor Friedrich Merz has said Germany increasingly "found itself in the crosshairs of hybrid attackers" and warned last month that those behind such attacks would "pay for them," without naming a target.
Sources: CNA, Al Jazeera, CNN, AP
