ZELENSKYY’S PLANE FACED RUSSIAN DRONE THREAT WHILE DEPARTING MOLDOVA
The aircraft carrying President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to Norway was nearly struck by a drone while preparing to depart Moldova on September 8, according to Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre.
“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 told Norwegian public broadcaster NRK.
A senior Ukrainian official travelling aboard the aircraft separately confirmed the incident and said Ukraine believes the aircraft was a Russian jet-powered Shahed-type drone. The official said it came close enough that investigators are considering whether Zelenskyy’s plane could have been the intended target.
That has not been established. Neither Støre nor Ukrainian officials have disclosed the drone’s exact distance from the presidential aircraft, and no evidence currently proves that this was a deliberate assassination attempt.
What has been confirmed is that a Russian drone violated Moldovan and Romanian airspace, forcing Moldova to suspend flights and delay Zelenskyy’s departure. The drone later exploded in northern Moldova, approximately 160 kilometers from Chișinău Airport. Investigators recovered components consistent with Russia’s Geran family of attack drones.
Zelenskyy was travelling to Oslo for the funeral of King Harald V. No one aboard his aircraft was injured, and the plane departed safely after restrictions were lifted.
Even if Zelenskyy’s aircraft was not deliberately targeted, a weaponized Russian drone entering the flight path of an aircraft carrying a head of state represents an extraordinary threat to civilian aviation. Had the timing or trajectory shifted only slightly, the consequences could have extended far beyond Ukraine.
The incident is real and deeply serious. What remains unproven is whether it was a near accident created by Russia’s reckless attack—or an intentional attempt to reach Ukraine’s president.