The German Interior Ministry denied reports at an internal briefing that the Ukrainian plane involved in the Leipzig/Halle airport drone incident was carrying ammunition, DPA reported, BTA reported.
The briefing for parliamentary coordinators in the Bundestag was attended by members of the interior and defense committees and it was stated that there were no ammunition on board the plane.
The German publication “Focus“ (Focus) was the first to report the denial. The information coincides with the data obtained by DPA. The ministry has not yet responded to an official request for comment.
Late on Tuesday, an airport employee spotted the drone with an attached explosive device on the southern runway of Leipzig/Halle airport. According to security sources, it was found near a Ukrainian cargo plane, an Antonov An-124 Condor. Federal police specialists later defused the explosive device.
Interior Minister Alexander Dobrin has invited his colleagues to a meeting following the drone incident, the ministry confirmed. The meeting, which will take place at the end of August at the Mürvik Naval Academy in the northern German city of Flensburg, near the Danish border, is expected to bring together interior ministers from eastern European EU member states and countries along the Baltic Sea. Invitations have been sent to the interior ministers of the Baltic states, Poland, Sweden, Norway and Denmark.
According to the ministry, the aim of the talks is to coordinate a common strategy to counter drones and strengthen the protection of critical infrastructure.