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Germany shuts down Munich Airport due to drone sightings

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Airplanes at Munich Airport in Bavaria, Germany in September 2025.
17 September 2025, Bavaria, Munich: General view of Munich Airport in Bavaria, Germany, on Sept. 17 2025. (Matthias Balk/dpa via Getty Images)

Germany's Munich Airport temporarily suspended operations the evening of Oct. 2 due to suspicious drone sightings in the area, airport officials said.

The closure follows a series of mysterious drone sightings in European airspace in recent days, including an incident in northern Germany on Sept. 26.

Several drone sightings were reported late in the evening of Oct. 2, prompting German air traffic control to restrict and then suspend flight operations shortly after 10 p.m. local time, Munich Airport said in a statement.

The closure grounded 17 flights, affecting nearly 3,000 passengers. Fifteen arriving flights were also rerouted to Stuttgart, Nuremberg, Vienna, and Frankfurt.

The statement did not disclose how many drones were seen in the area.

Similar drone sightings in recent weeks have disrupted operations at major transportation hubs, including Oslo Airport in Norway and Copenhagen Airport in Denmark, both of which were temporarily shut down as a precaution.

An unidentified drone was also observed flying over the Norwegian Equinor-operated Sleipner gas field in the North Sea on Sept. 29. A day later, another drone was recorded flying over Bronnoysund Airport in Norway.

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Speaking at the Valdai Discussion Club in Sochi, Russia, on Oct. 2, President Vladimir Putin mocked European concern over drone sightings, denied stationing troops on the Finnish border, and dismissed NATO as a “paper tiger.”
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Drones have also been previously spotted in Germany. German police on Sept. 29 reported sightings of large quadcopters near the Rostock seaport. Authorities in the northern state of Schleswig-Holstein also reported multiple drone sightings overnight on Sept. 26.

The German outlet Der Spiegel reported on Oct. 1 that those drones may have been surveilling critical infrastructure.

The drone sightings follow a rash of high-profile Russian airspace violations that have heightened tensions between Moscow and NATO.

In early September, Polish forces shot down several Russian drones that had entered their airspace during a mass attack against Ukraine. A Russian drone also breached Romanian territory a few days later, though Bucharest opted not to engage it.

Three Russian MiG-31 fighter jets also briefly entered Estonian airspace on Sept. 19, remaining there for 12 minutes before being intercepted by NATO forces.

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The European Commission’s plan of creating a “drone wall” on the union’s eastern border has met a tough reality in Copenhagen — opposition from EU member states without a border with Russia. “Leaders broadly supported initial flagship projects that will strengthen Europe’s security, including the European Drone Wall and the Eastern Flank Watch,” European Council President António Costa said at a press conference after the informal EU Council meeting in Denmark. Yet, member states were not conv
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Abbey Fenbert

Senior News Editor

Abbey Fenbert is a senior news editor at the Kyiv Independent. She is a freelance writer, editor, and playwright with an MFA from Boston University. Abbey served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Ukraine from 2008-2011.

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