Germany is preparing to deepen military and intelligence support for Ukraine as Berlin moves to respond to what it says was a Russian sabotage operation at Leipzig/Halle Airport, according to Der Spiegel.
The plans include sending thousands of attack drones and additional missiles for Ukraine’s Iris-T air defence systems this month, alongside a significant expansion of co-operation between German and Ukrainian intelligence agencies.
People familiar with the German government’s plans told the magazine that strengthening Kyiv’s ability to strike Russian forces on the battlefield and targets deeper inside Russia was one component of Berlin’s response.
Germany’s intelligence services could also be given wider powers to counter hostile operations. Legislation expected to receive Bundestag backing would expand the range of active measures available to German agencies when responding to foreign attacks.
Under the proposed changes, employees of Germany’s Federal Intelligence Service, or BND, could receive broader authority to counter hostile cyber operations, including accessing adversaries’ computers and servers and deleting stolen information.
The agencies could also be permitted to interfere with hostile supply chains, including by replacing individual components in consignments bound for states regarded as adversaries.
Berlin is simultaneously preparing a tougher diplomatic and economic response to Moscow.
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The government has announced that the Russian Consulate General in Bonn will close and that the Russian House cultural centre in Berlin will lose its operating agreement.
German officials are also expected to press the European Union for additional sanctions, with particular emphasis on Russia’s so-called shadow fleet and tighter controls on the entry of Russian citizens into EU countries.
The measures follow Germany’s formal accusation on September 1 that Russia was responsible for an attempted attack at Leipzig/Halle Airport on August 4.
Authorities said a drone carrying explosives was discovered close to a Ukrainian aircraft inside the airport’s security area and subsequently defused.
Germany’s government has said its assessment was based on police investigations, intelligence findings and evidence recovered from the scene.
The attribution has marked a sharp shift in Berlin’s public response to suspected Russian sabotage, espionage and other forms of hybrid activity.
“We are not at war, but we are a daily target of hybrid warfare,” German interior minister Alexander Dobrindt said.
Stefan Thumann, a German defence entrepreneur whose company Donaustahl supplies combat drones to Ukraine, has gone further in characterising the confrontation.
He said some Russian operations amounted to an “act of war controlled and coordinated here by the Russian armed forces”.
Speaking on a podcast operated by the Axel Springer Global Reporters Network, Thumann said: “Germany and Russia are at war.”
Thumann has also said he is living under protection after authorities uncovered what he described as an alleged Russian plot to poison him.
Moscow’s public rhetoric has grown increasingly hostile in response.
Vladimir Solovyov, one of Russia’s most prominent state propagandists, has argued that modern Germany should no longer be treated as a legitimate unified state and called for the restoration of East Germany.
Solovyov said Russia should “demand the restoration of the GDR and simply sever all diplomatic relations”.
“There is no such country,” he added.
Jim Sciutto, CNN anchor and chief national security analyst, responded on X: “This is the same logic Russia used to invade Ukraine.”
The German response is therefore extending beyond the immediate investigation into the Leipzig airport incident.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has also announced new German air-defence packages for Ukraine, underscoring the increasingly direct military relationship between Berlin and Kyiv.
The proposed intelligence measures would represent a notable expansion of Germany’s ability to respond to hostile activity, moving beyond traditional counter-intelligence and surveillance towards active disruption of cyber operations and supply networks.
For the government of Chancellor Friedrich Merz, the objective is to raise the cost of Russian covert activity while strengthening Ukraine’s capacity to defend itself and conduct strikes against Russian military targets.
The approach also reflects a broader shift in European policy towards Russian hybrid operations. Governments that once treated sabotage, cyber attacks and interference as separate law-enforcement problems are increasingly regarding them as elements of a sustained confrontation with Moscow.
Germany’s planned response suggests Berlin is now seeking to meet that challenge with a combination of military support, intelligence co-operation, economic sanctions and active countermeasures.
The escalation nevertheless carries risks. Giving intelligence agencies greater authority to interfere directly with foreign computer systems and supply chains could deepen the confrontation with Russia, while expanded military assistance to Ukraine may further sharpen Moscow’s focus on German infrastructure and defence interests.
For Berlin, the calculation appears increasingly to be that allowing alleged Russian hostile activity to go unanswered carries greater risks than a more forceful response.
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