Merts' party is calling for Article 4 of the NATO Treaty to be invoked over the incident involving the Ukrainian plane

Roderich Kisewetter, a foreign policy expert with the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), called on the German government to initiate consultations with NATO allies in accordance with Article 4 of the North Atlantic Treaty. This call was prompted by an extraordinary incident at Leipzig/Halle Airport, where a drone equipped with an explosive device and a detonator was discovered right next to a Ukrainian An-124 cargo plane.

The German politician emphasized that the systematic increase in the number of hybrid attacks and attempts by Russia to “test the limits of what is acceptable” is leading to a gradual decline in Western society’s sensitivity to the threat, which undermines the Alliance’s overall security. 

Article 4 of the NATO Treaty allows anymember state to request urgent consultations with its partners in the event of a threat to its territorial integrity, political independence, or security—a traditional preliminary step before the possible invocation of Article 5 on collective defense.

Source: ntv.

At Leipzig/Halle International Airport, a drone carrying an explosive device was discovered near a Ukrainian Antonov cargo plane. Due to the incident, airport operations were temporarily suspended for several hours.

German Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt urgently cut short his vacation and traveled to Leipzig/Halle Airport after a drone carrying explosives was detected near the Ukrainian aircraft.