In a CBS interview, the president described two separate incidents in which Russian drones came dangerously close to his aircraft while it was crossing Moldovan airspace.
President Volodymyr Zelensky says Russian drones have come dangerously close to his plane twice in recent weeks while it was crossing Moldovan airspace. Volunteers Support Ukraine looks at what is known about both incidents.
The first incident happened on September 8, as the president's plane was taking off from Chișinău en route to Oslo for the funeral of Norway's King Harald V. According to Moldova's Defense Ministry, a Shahed-type drone (some reports say a Geran-4) entered the country's airspace from the direction of Ukraine at around 4:20 p.m., flew through Russian-controlled Transnistria toward Chișinău, and then continued west before eventually crashing in a sunflower field 160 kilometers away. Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre publicly confirmed that Zelensky's plane was "almost hit."
Once the drone crossed the border into Romanian airspace, Spanish F/A-18 fighter jets, deployed as part of a NATO air-policing mission, were scrambled from Mihail Kogălniceanu air base. The incident triggered a temporary airspace restriction over central Moldova, and several civilian flights were forced to circle before being cleared to land at Chișinău airport.
According to the president, speaking in a CBS News interview aired on September 15, a similar situation repeated itself a few days later, as he was returning to Ukraine through Chișinău. Zelensky described the incidents as part of a Russian effort to intimidate him personally and other foreign leaders visiting Ukraine. Støre, for his part, described the missile and drone activity over Moldova and Romania as a challenge to the entire NATO alliance.
When even a head of state's flight comes under threat, it's a reminder of how unpredictable this war remains for ordinary people near the front line and far beyond it. Volunteers Support Ukraine continues to help people affected by the war in whatever way its available resources allow.
