"Germany: A 'Ticking Time Bomb' in Putin's Target Zone as Sabotage Escalates from Armed Drones to Assassination Attempts"

EUROPE could be hit by more assassinations and terrorist plots as part of Russia’s brazen shadow warfare campaign if the West doesn’t toughen up.

is intensifying efforts to stoke chaos in one Nato nation with a series of dark sabotage operations – and it’s only a matter of time until one of them turns deadly.

The warning comes following a spate of mystery schemes on German facilities, with some – like the – being directly blamed on the Kremlin.

Explosive devices were found on Tuesday at two separate power hubs in – with authorities currently treating them as “sabotage”.

German MP and retired colonel Roderich Kiesewetter told The Sun: “ is conducting war against us, cognitively and also hybridly.”

He warned Europe could see more assassination plots on its streets if the West doesn’t take a firmer approach to condemning .

“We will also probably see the announcement of killings against high representatives of our armaments industry,” Kiesewetter added.

Asked how far Russia could push the West’s boundaries, he said: “We will experience an increase of state on German soil and Russia will not declare that they have seen it, but we will see that the traces lead to Moscow.”

Fears are mounting that the recent plots may mark just the beginning of a more perilous and deadly campaign across the continent.

Germany sits on the frontline of Russia’s shadow warfare campaign – as the European giant is a stalwart supporter of Kyiv and a key player facilitating Ukrainian logistics.

German Defence chief Boris Pistorius has previously warned his country is “particularly in focus” of Putin’s crosshairs.

Airports, government IT systems, energy infrastructure and defence-related facilities across the country have all been hit by suspected sabotage plots in recent weeks.

But it’s not just Germany being targeted – the UK has already been rocked by Russian assassination bids on its streets, most notably .

Mum-of-three Dawn Sturgess, 44, was killed by a deadly nerve agent that was used in the botched assassination of ex-Russian double agent Sergei Skripal.

Fears of an intensified Russian sabotage campaign in Germany started to soar on August 4 when an explosive-laden drone was discovered near a fleet of Ukrainian cargo planes at Leipzig/Halle airport.

An incoming jet was then forced to divert after it was struck by what was believed to be another aerial device.

Authorities then discovered a third rigged drone and detonator strapped to a tree days later.

The entire plot has now officially been blamed on Russia, with Berlin slamming Moscow’s “dangerous behaviour” and reckless bids to “cause great damage”.

The chaos came two years after fires broke out at several DHL warehouses across Europe in July 2024, including in the UK and Germany.

Subsequent investigations found Russia was behind the chilling parcel blazes, which luckily resulted in no casualties.

It is simply “miraculous” that no lives were lost in any of these situations, Elisabeth Braw, a senior fellow with the Atlantic Council’s Transatlantic Security Initiative, said.

She called Putin’s sabotage plots “really sinister games”.

The expert told The Sun: “What Germany has experienced in the past two months is really remarkable and shocking.”

Matthias Strohn, of the Centre for Historical Analysis and Conflict Research (CHACR), the strategic think tank for the British Army, agreed it was fortunate that civilian casualties were limited.

But he warned it is only a “ticking time bomb” until one of Russia’s plans turn deadly.

“If something were to happen and British, German, or French citizens were killed, I think that would really change the situation,” he told The Sun.

Russia expert Alex Titov said of the latest Putin schemes: “I think that it’s a new round of escalation between Russia and Western Europe… we’re probably just at the beginning of it.”

He told The Sun how Russia uses social media platforms like Telegram to find people in need of cash who will help carry out these plots for money.

And he also warned how shadow warfare can include espionage.

“It is quite disconcerting and potentially very dangerous path that both sides are on at the moment,” he said

On Tuesday morning, multiple explosives fitted to what appeared to be fireworks were found at a substation near the Jaenschwalde coal-fired power plant in Brandenburg.

Separately on the same day, a short circuit caused several power lines to go out of service at the Bergheim power substation near Cologne.

Both cases are being treated as deliberate attacks, local police said, and the probe comes just one day after Berlin pointed the finger at Moscow for the botched Leipzig attack.

On Thursday, police also discovered a number of homemade rocket launchers at a substation in Dormagen.

The devices found were said to resemble those discovered in Bergheim and Brandenburg, according to Bild, with the ordeal still being probed.

German political scientist Kristina Spohr highlighted that authorities are yet to determine whether or not Moscow was behind these incidents.

But she said even this uncertainty was to “Russia’s advantage”.

It is also important to note that some recent attacks on German energy infrastructure have been claimed by far-left activists.

Hybrid warfare from Russia has “intensified on all fronts, because it keeps us on our toes”, Spohr added

She told The Sun: ” From Putin’s perspective, you feel you’re in the driving seat because you are actually shaping everything.

“Everybody else is constantly reacting, and that’s where he wants everybody to be, he wants people to be anxious.”

Strohn said it was the right thing to do for Germany to blame Russia for the Leipzig drone plot.

But he warned against Europe going “all guns blazing” as it could provoke an escalation between Moscow and the West.

The range and scale of these sabotage attacks has also proven how thinly stretched Europe is.

Since it is virtually impossible to ensure all key infrastructure hubs are protected 24/7, Putin is finding it relatively easy to orchestrate these schemes without receiving any blowback.

Strohn said: “Can you provide 100 per cent security all the time? No, you can’t, it’s just not possible as we’ve seen with these recent attacks.”

For as long as Putin continues to push the boundaries of what is acceptable without being classed as all-out war against Europe, Russian sabotage plots are expected to become more dangerous.

The tyrant is also ramping up shady schemes across Europe to prove to the Russian people he has power over the West.

It comes amid reports Putin fears he may be hanged if he doesn’t soon declare victory, according to The Economist.

And mounting speculation suggests he could order a massive mobilisation of 300,000 recruits to fuel his stalling war machine after elections in September.

Dark operations across the West remain a cheap way for Putin to claim small wins – and a substitute for increasingly elusive battlefield triumphs against Ukraine.