DGSI warns Leipzig drone incident signals escalation in Europe’s hybrid campaign

Key facts

• DGSI chief Céline Berthon warned France to expect “direct, more violent hostile actions” amid intensifying hybrid warfare in Europe.
• Berthon cited the discovery of an explosive device described as an “explosive drone” near a Ukrainian cargo plane at Leipzig Airport, a key military logistics hub for Ukraine support.
• German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said Berlin is working intensively to identify who was behind the incident; no attribution has been made publicly.

3 minute read

Céline Berthon, director-general of France’s DGSI, has publicly elevated the threat framing around hybrid warfare in Europe, arguing that states should now consider “direct, more violent hostile actions” on national soil. Her remarks, delivered in Paris, anchor on a recent German security incident: the discovery of an explosive device described by Berthon as an “explosive drone” near a Ukrainian cargo plane at Leipzig Airport, a major logistics hub for transporting military equipment to Ukraine.

The choice of Leipzig as the illustrative case is analytically significant. Unlike symbolic interference, a device placed near a cargo aircraft at a key transit node implies intent to impose operational friction on Ukraine-supporting supply chains, to signal reach and resolve, or to test European responses below the threshold of open armed conflict. It also highlights the growing intersection between the unmanned systems threat set and homeland security, with airports and cargo handling areas presenting a complex attack surface that combines permissive access, time-critical operations, and high political sensitivity.

Berthon did not name a perpetrator in connection with Leipzig, but she separately cited “the hardening of Russia’s posture” as a central concern and described a “dramatic and significant increase” in interference acts in France since 2022. She pointed to prior symbolic assaults and Russia-affiliated disinformation activity as components of a broader campaign that is not necessarily publicly acknowledged as warfare, yet already manifests in attacks against national targets.

For European defense ministries, procurement authorities, and aerospace/logistics executives, the immediate implication is that resilience planning for Ukraine-related movements must explicitly include physical security against small UAS and improvised explosive threats—alongside attribution, counterintelligence, and continuity-of-operations measures at strategic hubs. Germany’s Chancellor Friedrich Merz has said the government is working intensively to identify those behind the failed Leipzig attack, indicating both the political salience of the incident and the continuing uncertainty around attribution, which will shape any consequent policy response.

Source: Politico.eu