German police deployed a bomb disposal robot at an airport overnight after a drone was found on the tarmac near a Ukrainian cargo plane, sparking alarm and forcing the diversion of numerous flights.

Axar.az informs, citing Euronews, that one aircraft that had to abort its scheduled landing at Leipzig-Halle airport then collided mid-air with an unknown object nearby but later landed safely elsewhere, the government said.

It was later confirmed that a drone equipped with explosives and a detonator had been found near an aircraft belonging to the Ukrainian cargo carrier Antonov Airlines, a NATO spokesperson said on Wednesday.