The discovery of an explosive-laden drone near a runway at Germany’s Leipzig/Halle airport reflects a "new threat" spilling over from the Ukraine war, German interior minister Alexander Dobrindt said.

Germany has opened a counterterrorism investigation after the drone was discovered by airport workers in a restricted cargo area near the southern runway.

While Dobrindt did not directly blame Russia for the incident, according to Bild the drone was found close to a Ukrainian Antonov cargo plane.

Flights were suspended and several aircraft, including some owned by German logistics firm DHL, were diverted.

After the drone sparked the part closure of one of Europe’s biggest cargo hubs, Dobrindt said: “Drone sightings and drone threats in a hybrid context are something we have known from the past, but a drone armed with explosives being present on airport grounds is a new threat scenario."

This comes as Volodymyr Zelensky issued a fresh plea for help, telling allies that ballistic missile interceptors “could have saved the lives” of 17 people killed in Kyiv on Tuesday night.

The president has urged Donald Trump and other partners to step up their support, as Russia looks to “significantly ramp up its ballistic missile production”.

Rubio and Miliband discuss Ukraine war, boosting Europe's role in its own security

US secretary of state Marco Rubio and foreign secretary Ed Miliband discussed the importance of Europe taking a greater role in its security during a meeting in Washington yesterday, the State Department said in a statement.

A British official said they also reaffirmed the strength of the relationship between the two allies, including their shared commitment to the Nato security alliance.

Rubio told reporters before the meeting that Ukraine would also be on the agenda.

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky has ratcheted up appeals to allies for more air defence missiles as Russia escalates ballistic missile strikes.

Miliband had planned to underline that Ukraine's security is inseparable from European and transatlantic security, and to reiterate the UK's commitment to stand with Ukraine for as long as it takes, his ministry said.

Watch: Ukrainian forest covered in fibre optic cables left by Russian drones

Explosive drone at German airport raises new danger, minister says

German interior minister Alexander Dobrindt said the explosive-laden drone found near a runway at Leipzig/Halle airport overnight was a hybrid attack which opened a new level of danger.

Germany opened a counterterrorism investigation on Wednesday after the drone prompted the closure of parts of one of Europe's biggest cargo hubs.

“Drone sightings and drone threats in a hybrid context are something we have known from the past, but a drone armed with explosives being present on airport grounds is a new threat scenario," Dobrindt said, after an emergency meeting with the heads of Germany's security services on Wednesday night.

Airport workers discovered the drone in a restricted cargo area near the southern runway overnight. Flights were suspended and several aircraft, including some owned by German logistics firm DHL, were diverted. Authorities said there had been no danger to passengers or airport staff and most operations resumed by morning after one runway was reopened.

All speculation about the explosives, the drone, its origin, and who is behind it, is now part of the investigation, the interior minister said. "It is part of the nature of hybrid threats that it is not always immediately clear where they originate," Dobrindt said.

Putin names new chief of Russia's drone force

Russian president Vladimir Putin has named Denis Lyamin to head Russia's Unmanned Systems Forces, a newly established branch of the military that will be responsible for drone warfare.

Lyamin was previously chief of staff for the "Centre" group of the Russian armed forces.

The 47-year-old, who graduated from Chelyabinsk Higher Tank Command School in 2001, commanded the 58th Combined Arms army in 2023.

He also served as the commander of the 22nd Army Corps in Crimea after November 2020.

Russian forces claim control of two more Ukrainian villages, claims defence ministry

Russian forces have taken control of two more Ukrainian villages, the Russian defence ministry claimed on Wednesday.

Moscow named the villages as Ryzhivka in the Sumy region and Zirnytsia in the Zaporizhzhia region.

EU to use £1.2 billion of interest generated by frozen Russian assets to help Ukraine

As we reported earlier, the European Commission has said the EU will use £1.2 billion taken from interest generated by frozen Russian assets to help Ukraine.

The money was transferred to the blog on 3 August and comes from interest on cash balances, part of Russian central bank assets frozen by the EU in the wake of Moscow's invasion, the Commission added.

"Russia must pay for the destruction it has caused. And we are using the proceeds from the immobilised Russian assets to make sure it does," European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen said in the statement.

"We are making a further €1.4 billion of them available to Ukraine. This will support Ukraine's continued resistance against Russia's illegal war," she added.

Zelensky says air defence missile supplies down threefold from 2025

Supplies of air defence missiles to Ukraine are three times less than in 2025, Volodymyr Zelensky said on Wednesday.

The Ukrainian president urged politicians in allied countries to approve more deliveries.

"This concerns not only this summer period, but every period of the first half of 2026," Mr Zelensky said on X following a deadly Russian strike on Kyiv, during which Ukraine did not manage to intercept any incoming missiles.

“Our partners do have the missiles. It is important that the necessary political decisions on supplies and the acceleration of production processes are ultimately made – including decisions on localization in Ukraine.”

North Korea sends missile unit to Russia as Putin tries to exploit Ukraine weakness

A North Korean missile unit has been sent to Russia, set to be equipped with 120 ballistic missiles and six launchers for strikes against Ukraine.

Russia has fired scores of North Korean ballistic missiles at Ukraine since late 2023, but the deployment of North Korean missile forces would be an expansion of the already extensive military cooperation between Moscow and Pyongyang.

Andrii Cherniak of Ukraine's Main Directorate of Intelligence said Russia planned to base the missile unit of around 90 North Korean personnel in the western Russian region of Voronezh, within its 112th Missile Brigade.

Ukraine is very short of high-end air defences and Russia has tried to exploit this by using more ballistic missiles, which are particularly hard to shoot down.

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War of attrition hits new phase, says Zelensky’s aide

Serhii Beskrestnov, an adviser to Ukraine’s president on defence technology development, said the war of attrition has entered a new phase.

“The enemy is attacking everything indiscriminately — retail warehouses, food storage facilities, logistics hubs, enterprises, building materials warehouses,” he said on Facebook.

One of the companies that came under heavy fire overnight was the Epicentr, one of Ukraine’s largest retail and construction chains.

It said in a statement on Facebook that “in minutes, Russian missiles destroyed what the company had built over decades.”

One employee was killed and three others were wounded. Russia hit two of the company’s key logistics hubs.

A direct hit also destroyed the production floor of its ceramic tile factory, forcing the company to halt manufacturing there and shift production abroad, with full recovery expected to take up to two years, the company said.

Epicentr also voiced support for other Ukrainian businesses damaged in the attack, saying it understood “how many years of work, effort, faith and daily responsibility stand behind every enterprise.”