\n The European Union summoned Russia’s top diplomat and signaled it may impose new sanctions on Wednesday, after last month’s drone incident in Germany that the bloc’s foreign policy chief branded “state-sponsored terrorism.” <\/p>\n
Issued on: 02\/09\/2026 – 20:50Modified: 02\/09\/2026 – 21:59<\/p>\n
3 min Reading time\n<\/p>\n
The incident at Leipzig airport, which Berlin described as a “hybrid attack”, took place in early August and involved what Germany said was an explosive-laden drone placed near a Ukrainian cargo aircraft.<\/p>\n
Germany \u2013 which has supported Ukraine throughout its war with Russia \u2013 has for months reported suspicious drone<\/a> sightings over military and industrial sites, but the Leipzig incident raised alarm because of the alleged use of explosives.<\/p>\n It has heightened fears of a sabotage campaign that the EU and NATO say is an attempt to destabilise Ukraine<\/a>‘s backers.<\/p>\n “It is clear that it has all the hallmarks of state-sponsored terrorism,” EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said at the start of a meeting of the bloc’s foreign ministers in Ireland on Wednesday.<\/p>\n “The question is, what do we do about this?”<\/p>\n Kallas<\/a> said the EU had summoned the Russian envoy, and that member states were doing the same.<\/p>\n Speaking from the Netherlands, French President Emmanuel Macron<\/a> said the incident was proof that Russia was “waging a hybrid war” against Europe<\/a>.<\/p>\n Wake-up calls <\/p>\n “We will not let an act of such gravity go unpunished,” French foreign minister Jean-No\u00ebl Barrot said, adding that he had summoned Russia’s envoy in Paris.<\/p>\n Kallas said EU foreign ministers would discuss ongoing work to impose sanctions on 1,600 individuals and entities linked to Russia’s military industry.<\/p>\n “Seeing these hybrid attacks across Europe, I think these are also wake-up calls for the countries which have not been so strong, perhaps, on this,” she said.<\/p>\n “If we want to end this war, we all have to focus our efforts. Take it to a new level.”<\/p>\n EU and Ukraine seal drone deal to pair industry with battlefield expertise<\/a><\/p>\n German media reported Wednesday that police have identified two Russian suspects linked to the incident.<\/p>\n On Tuesday,\u00a0Germany<\/a> blamed Moscow, saying it employed “low-level agents”, and announced measures including the shuttering of the Russian consulate in Bonn and a Russian cultural centre in Berlin.<\/p>\n Russia’s President Vladimir Putin<\/a> in televised comments later branded those moves “another mistake, a serious one”, saying it “clearly runs counter to the interests of the German people”.<\/p>\n Russia also announced Wednesday it was summoning Germany’s charge d’affaires to protest what it called “anti-Russian actions”.<\/p>\n No longer in peacetime <\/p>\n Germany’s foreign minister Johann Wadephul said there was a “large number of people who can now be sanctioned in addition.<\/p>\n “Russia has escalated, Russia has carried out this hybrid attack, and now Russia must live with the consequences,” he said, speaking from Ireland.<\/p>\n EU<\/a> chief Ursula von der Leyen said Europe had to face “the hard truth that this is the new normal.<\/p>\n “We do not seek conflict with Russia, but Russia seems to be at hybrid war with us,” said Polish top diplomat Radoslaw Sikorski.<\/p>\n “We are no longer in regular peacetime.”<\/p>\n