Bundeswehr trucks set on fire (Erfurt, Germany)

During the night of 21-22 June 2025, several parked Bundeswehr trucks were set on fire at a MAN Truck & Bus Service facility in Erfurt's Gispersleben district. According to nd-aktuell, three trucks burned out completely and three more were partially destroyed, with damage estimated at around 2.5 million euros. Investigators said unknown perpetrators cut through the site's perimeter fence and ignited the vehicles using a flammable substance. The Thuringia State Criminal Police Office (Landeskriminalamt) opened an arson investigation and appealed for witnesses.

Days later, a video showing the vehicles before and during the fire surfaced on Russian-language Telegram channels, including one styled "Obsessed with War," which claimed that "our people" had destroyed equipment supposedly bound for Ukraine. As ZDFheute and 20 Minuten reported, the German Defence Ministry rejected this, calling it a disinformation campaign and stating the trucks belonged to Bundeswehr units in Thuringia and were not destined for Ukraine; the LKA said it was examining the video's authenticity. nd-aktuell later reported that proceedings against three suspects were discontinued for lack of sufficient evidence, with the case continuing against unknown perpetrators. The same Erfurt site had seen military vehicles burn in 2024.

Attribution remains unresolved: the probe against three suspects was dropped for insufficient evidence and continues against persons unknown. A Russian-language Telegram claim drew attention to possible foreign sabotage, but authorities have not confirmed it, and the Defence Ministry characterised the posting as disinformation. Separately, contemporaneous arson attacks on Bundeswehr vehicles elsewhere in Germany carried left-extremist manifestos, an alternative profile for such acts. On available reporting, no actor has been established for the Erfurt fire, and neither a foreign-sabotage nor a domestic-extremist explanation has been substantiated for this specific incident.