Russia has twice in recent weeks attempted to attack Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyʼs plane while it was flying over Moldova.
He stated this in an interview with CBS News.
According to Zelensky, the first incident occurred on September 9, when the presidential plane was flying from Chisinau to Norway. At the time, Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre stated that Zelenskyʼs plane almost collided with a drone during takeoff from Moldova.
Moldovan authorities later confirmed that the drone had crashed and exploded 160 kilometers from Chisinau International Airport. Airspace restrictions were lifted, and Zelenskyʼs plane departed late.
The president also told CBS News that a few days later, while returning to Ukraine via Chisinau, the situation repeated itself. According to him, one or two drones again entered Moldovan airspace.
The Ukrainian delegation was not harmed. It was initially unclear whether the incident was a deliberate attack. Zelensky now says he sees it as part of a Russian strategy to intimidate the Ukrainian president and foreign leaders.
The president also mentioned the Russian drone attack near the “Yagodyn” checkpoint on the Ukrainian-Polish border on September 13. At the time of the attack, a train carrying high-ranking foreign officials was there, including European officials and former CIA head David Petraeus. Zelensky suggested that Russia may have known about the presence of Americans and Europeans on the train.
"I think they knew. Thatʼs why, when there were Europeans, Americans and a large delegation on that train, they attacked," the president said.
- At the same time, in recent months, unidentified drones have increasingly violated the airspace of European countries. Some of them are linked to Russia.
- On September 15, NATO fighters shot down a drone for the first time in Lithuanian airspace.
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