The plane carrying Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy nearly came under attack by a drone while departing Moldova for Oslo. Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre told Norwegian broadcaster NRK.
“His plane nearly collided with a drone during takeoff in Moldova. This is the reality he lives in,” he said.
Zelenskyy arrived in Oslo from Moldova on Tuesday evening to attend the funeral of King Harald V. According to NRK, Russian drones attacked Moldova’s region bordering Ukraine overnight into Wednesday. As a result, the “Starokozache” border crossing was closed overnight. The airport from which Zelenskyy departed is about a two-hour drive from the crossing.
“Yesterday, there was a drone threat in the airspace over Moldova, which delayed Zelenskyy’s plane on its way to Oslo. He faces such threats every day. It is not known how close the drones were to his plane,” the Norwegian prime minister’s office said.
Earlier, Moldovan Prime Minister Vasile Tofan said that 17 drones had fallen on Moldovan territory in August alone.
During his visit to Norway, the Ukrainian president held several meetings with the Norwegian prime minister, discussing the war in Ukraine and the need for additional air defense systems.
Before the funeral of King Harald, the Ukrainian president again visited the Norwegian prime minister’s office.
According to Støre, he asked Zelenskyy how his night had been. Zelenskyy replied that it had been a difficult night: he remained in contact and received reports about the locations where Russian missiles had fallen.
Norwegian Finance Minister Jens Stoltenberg was also present at the meeting, where Zelenskyy spoke about the problems with his departure from Moldova.
“He told us about it yesterday evening when we met with him. I do not dare go into details, but he was delayed, and there were some threats to the plane. But I do not know enough details to say anything more,” he said.
