A plane carrying Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky was nearly hit by a drone this week in Moldova, as he was heading to Norway to attend King Harald V's funeral. The information was confirmed by Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Store to public broadcaster NRK. The flight with Zelensky was in transit at Chisinau International Airport on Tuesday, when the threat caused the departure to be delayed. Zelensky managed to attend the funeral on Wednesday.
It is unclear who launched the drone or how close it came to the Ukrainian president's aircraft. Moldova's Ministry of Defense reported that the country closed its airspace on Tuesday afternoon after surveillance systems detected an unidentified "aerial target."
The foreign ministries of Ukraine, Russia, Moldova, and Norway have not commented on the incident. This episode occurs in a context of intensified air attacks between Ukrainian and Russian forces in their respective territories in recent weeks, with various NATO countries accusing Moscow of violating their airspace.
