At least 13 people were injured in Germany on Friday when a suspicious package was found at a DHL distribution centre.
Eight workers at the site, near Nuremberg, required medical attention, police spokeswoman Janine Mendel said. She warned the number could rise.
Several employees complained of health problems. The injured received treatment for toxic contamination, Ms Mendel added.
The substance leaked from a package early on Friday. By 9am, several staff at the distribution centre had complained of a rash and itching.
The police, fire department and hazardous materials specialists responded and the building was evacuated. A decontamination shower – used to wash away harmful substances – was set up at the site.
Disposable plotters
Parcels exploded at two DHL depots last July, with investigations leading to the arrest of alleged low-level operatives hired by Moscow. Last month, German prosecutors said they arrested three Ukrainians accused of working for Russia to plot sabotage attacks on goods shipments.
“The first impression is of low-level agents – people who ... are recruited for not much money and who then do the job for the Russian state,” said Herbert Reul, Interior Minister of Germany’s North-Rhine Westphalia region. "The individuals had agreed, no later than the end of March 2025, to carry out arson and bomb attacks on freight transport in Germany, acting on behalf of Russian state authorities."
The suspects, detained in Germany and Switzerland, told people "believed to be acting on behalf of Russian state authorities" that they were ready "to commit arson and explosive attacks on goods transport in Germany", federal prosecutors said.
The accused allegedly aimed to send packages from Germany containing explosive devices to Ukraine. The devices would go off as they were being transported.
Germany has been on high alert for sabotage attacks directed from Moscow since Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine i 2022. European intelligence services believe Russia was behind a plot to plant explosive devices on cargo planes.
In other cases of alleged Russian interference, a former German intelligence officer is accused of handing sensitive information to Moscow, while Berlin has blamed Moscow for a cyber attack on members of the centre-left SPD party. Russia has denied the allegations.
New German Chancellor Friedrich Merz accused Russia of targeting Germany and other European countries, with acts including cyber attacks, espionage and sabotage, as well as disinformation, poison attacks and killings.
Such acts were "overwhelmingly the work of the Russian government and its helpers", he said, accusing Moscow of "attempts at division and destabilisation".
Europe-wide threat
Police in the UK, meanwhile, have arrested four men in relation to an alleged Russian-directed plot against property linked to Prime Minister Keir Starmer.
Three men, all linked to Ukraine, will go on trial in April accused of involvement in a series of arson attacks on houses and a vehicle in London connected to Mr Starmer, a London court heard on Friday.
Over five days last month, police were called to fires at a house in North London owned by Mr Starmer, another at a property nearby where he used to live, and to a blaze involving a car that also used to belong to the British leader. Ukrainian Roman Lavrynovych, 21, has been charged with three counts of arson with intent to endanger life. Fellow Ukrainian Petro Pochynok, 34, and Romanian citizen Stanislav Carpiuc, 26, who was born in Ukraine, are accused of conspiracy to commit arson.
The fourth man, aged 48, was arrested at London Stansted Airport in connection with the arson, and was released on police bail.
