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Zelenskyy's official state aircraft, an Airbus A319-115X C, was threatened by a drone as he prepared to fly from Moldova to Oslo, according to Norway's prime minister Jonas Gahr Støre. Støre stated that Zelenskyy's plane was almost hit by a drone during takeoff in Moldova. He did not provide further details on the incident or the distance between the drone and the plane.
Zelenskyy flew from Moldova on Tuesday evening to attend King Harald of Norway's funeral, then continued to Ottawa to meet with Canadian leaders. Moldovan authorities reported that a Shahed drone, Russia's main attack drone, entered their airspace via the Ukrainian border on Tuesday. Preliminary data indicated the drone was a Shahed, and officials temporarily closed Moldova's airspace.
The Shahed entered Moldovan airspace twice in the late afternoon, around 4:20 p.m., aligning with the time Zelenskyy would have been preparing to fly. The Kremlin can launch hundreds of Shaheds and decoy drones daily, some of which have been documented entering neighboring countries like Poland and Romania. NATO has accused Russia of intentionally sending these drones to Eastern Europe to test reactions to potential threats.
Moldova’s government told Reuters that Zelenskyy's plane was cleared for takeoff after the drones exited its airspace. A separate statement noted the Shahed initially flew into Romania before returning to Moldovan airspace and eventually crashed in the northwestern district of Glodeni, causing a fire but no casualties.
Source: Business Insider
