In the case of the Leipzig drone attack, there is a concrete DNA trace, according to a report by the newspaper Bild. The trace is said to be identical to one already registered in connection with the arson attack on the DHL logistics centre in Leipzig on 20 July 2024. European investigators see a link between that series of parcel incendiary devices and the Russian military intelligence service, the GRU.
According to the report, the current DNA trace was rediscovered in the European DNA database. Because of the incidents in the summer of 2024, five men are currently on trial in Lithuania. They are accused of having sent four incendiary devices through Europe in packages at the time. One of the devices caught fire at Leipzig Airport, though, because of a delay, not on board a DHL freight aircraft, as had apparently been intended.
According to Bild, however, the DNA trace in question has so far not been matched to a specific person. It was, though, registered in Lithuania. In connection with the parcel bombs at the time, European investigators have so far identified a total of 22 suspects, all of whom are said to have links to Russia, and, according to the EU judicial authority Eurojust, also to the GRU intelligence service.
The Federal Prosecutor General's Office did not comment on the report. No further information is currently being provided, a spokeswoman for the authority in Karlsruhe said. The investigation is ongoing. The Federal Prosecutor General's Office had taken over the case because of the particular significance of the incident.
A drone was found at Leipzig Airport during the night leading into last Wednesday. Video recordings have since shown, according to media reports, that four hours earlier the drone had deliberately flown at the wing of a Ukrainian cargo aircraft parked there and struck it, at the point where the fuel tank is also located.
The drone was fitted with an explosive package, which for unknown reasons did not detonate. "If the drone had exploded there, it would have been an inferno," Bild quoted an investigating officer as saying. In the current case, the German government has so far commented only very cautiously on possible Russian authorship. Among the factors pointing in that direction is that cargo aircraft regularly transport military equipment for Ukraine out of Leipzig.
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