Leipzig airport: fence breached near Russian An-124 planes

On Saturday at about 11 p.m., a smashed fence was discovered at Leipzig/Halle airport close to three Russian An-124 cargo planes parked there. According to airport spokeswoman Theresa Leverenz, “a vehicle most likely broke through the fence,” but the overnight search turned up neither a vehicle nor any unauthorised persons. The inspection of the grounds continued on Sunday.

Because of the incident, flights in the northern part of the airport were briefly halted: departures and arrivals of several cargo flights were redirected to another area. The An-124 aircraft have been standing in Leipzig since the start of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022 — they are not allowed to take off because of EU sanctions.

The incident drew heightened attention because in early August a drone with explosives was found on the airport grounds. It was lying next to Ukrainian Antonov cargo planes. The German government blamed Russia for the attempted attack; Moscow rejected the accusation.

Around Prague, based on reporting by novinky.cz