Germany Braces for Wave of Attacks on Critical Infrastructure

Over the course of a single week, eastern and western Germany were struck by a series of coordinated attacks on strategic sites. On Tuesday morning, unknown perpetrators attempted to compromise the power supply near the Jänschwalde coal-fired power plant in Brandenburg, achieving partial success. That same evening, a power substation near Cologne suffered a disruption widely believed to be an act of sabotage. By Wednesday, investigators in Augsburg reported that an explosion near the city’s railway station was caused by a hand grenade. The attacks continued into Thursday, when incendiary devices were thrown at a Munich construction site adjacent to defense companies, followed by the discovery of a suspicious object at a power substation in Dormagen between Cologne and Düsseldorf. Authorities have since received a claim of responsibility for the Dormagen incident.

While the Jänschwalde, Cologne, and Augsburg attacks remain unsolved, Munich police have arrested at least two suspects reportedly holding Bulgarian nationality. Taken together, these incidents highlight a recurring pattern: the deliberate targeting of Germany’s critical infrastructure, including energy grids, rail networks, national security contractors, and defense firms—sectors that are logistically impossible to fully secure.

The Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA) has logged 160 potential acts of sabotage and more than 700 suspicious drone sightings so far this year, according to an internal document cited by media outlets. The rapid succession of events has generated palpable anxiety among the public. One Berlin resident told DW that the atmosphere is suffocating: “Fear. It makes me feel very uneasy.” Another added that the situation is deeply painful given personal ties to Russia, noting, “We first need to recognize that something is happening, that we are under attack.”

The shadow of Moscow looms large over the crisis. On Tuesday, Federal Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt and Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul announced that evidence points to Russian actors behind the attempted drone strike on Halle/Leipzig Airport on August 4. In response, Berlin closed Russia’s consulate general in Bonn and terminated its lease on the Russian House in Berlin. Moscow retaliated by shutting down the Goethe-Institut in the Russian capital, plunging German-Russian relations to their lowest point in years.

Chancellor Friedrich Merz described the geopolitical reality last year: “We are no longer at peace, but neither are we at war.” Since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Germany has become one of Kyiv’s most vocal financial and military backers, even as successive governments have insisted Berlin is not a belligerent in the conflict.

Sönke Marahrens, a colonel in the Bundeswehr and security expert at Kiel University, warned that Germans should prepare for this new form of confrontation. “Hybrid warfare and hybrid activities rely on the same methods,” he explained, noting that foreign states often pursue strategic interests through sabotage, disinformation, and attacks on infrastructure without formally declaring war.

Attributing every incident to a single actor, however, would be reductive. An earlier unsolved attack on a cable bridge in southwest Berlin caused multi-day blackouts during freezing temperatures and is suspected to have been the work of far-left extremists.

The debate over preparedness has intensified. This spring, the Bundestag passed the KRITIS law to strengthen protections for critical infrastructure, though it has not yet entered into force. North Rhine-Westphalia Interior Minister Herbert Reul pointed out that while private facilities can already be monitored via video surveillance, securing the surrounding perimeters remains a police responsibility. He acknowledged Germany’s cultural sensitivity around surveillance and civil liberties.

Both Reul and Heiko Teggatz, chairman of the German Police Union (DPolG), stressed that operators must bear the primary burden of protection. “Safeguarding critical infrastructure is not primarily the responsibility of the police, but first and foremost of the operators themselves,” Teggatz said. “What is lacking is not technical capability but a consistent willingness to invest.”