A plane carrying Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to Norway for the king’s state funeral was “almost hit” by a drone while preparing to depart Moldova on Tuesday, Reuters reported.
Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre described the incident Wednesday in comments to public broadcaster NRK, according to the outlet. Zelensky’s aircraft had landed safely in Oslo on Tuesday evening.
“His plane was almost hit by a drone as it was about to take off from Moldova. That is the reality he is facing,” Støre said. He did not say how near the drone came to the Ukrainian president’s aircraft.
A Moldovan government spokesperson later said two Russian drones were involved, and that Zelensky’s flight to Oslo was delayed after authorities shut the country’s airspace.
The aircraft was allowed to take off after officials established that one of the Russian drones had come down on Moldovan territory, the spokesperson told Reuters.
One drone landed in a field north of the capital and triggered a fire, while the second crossed onward into Romanian airspace.
The incursions prompted Chișinău International Airport to temporarily halt arrivals and departures Tuesday, with flight-tracking data showing inbound planes placed in holding patterns or diverted to nearby countries.
Moldovan President Maia Sandu called the incursions a “serious threat to people’s lives” and also condemned a Russian drone strike on a border crossing with Ukraine that killed two people.
Zelensky arrived in Oslo Tuesday evening, where he discussed military aid, including air defense support and civilian assistance with Foreign Minister Espen Barth Eide and Finance Minister Jens Stoltenberg, according to Deutsche Welle.
The Institute for the Study of War also said a Russian Shahed drone flew through Moldovan and Romanian airspace for about an hour Tuesday before crashing in Moldova.
