Luxembourg Airport Briefly Halts Flights Over Drone Threat

Luxembourg Airport briefly suspended flight operations overnight into Saturday after drones were spotted over and near the airport, according to The Kyiv Independent. One flight arriving from London was diverted to Belgium.

Air traffic resumed early in the morning of September 19. It remains unclear who owned the drones or where they came from.

Wider European context

The incident occurred amid warnings from several European leaders about a growing hybrid threat from Russia. Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said on September 17 that, according to intelligence assessments, Russia could organize drone attacks against countries supporting Ukraine in the coming months. Officials from France, Lithuania and Finland have echoed similar warnings.

On September 1, the German government stated that Russia was responsible for an attempted drone attack on September 4 at Leipzig-Halle Airport, where drones carrying explosives were found. The suspected target was a Ukrainian cargo plane used to transport military equipment.

According to the statistics platform Statista, since Russia's full-scale invasion in 2022 through May of this year, Luxembourg has provided Ukraine with 340 million euros in aid.