Norway clarifies circumstances of threat to Zelensky's plane

The departure of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky from Moldova to Oslo on the evening of September 8 was delayed due to a drone threat in the country's airspace. At the same time, the Norwegian government clarified that it is unknown how close the drone was to the Ukrainian president's plane.

This was reported by the Norwegian public broadcaster NRK.

Earlier, Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre said that Zelensky's plane "was almost hit by a drone" as it was preparing to depart from Moldova. However, later the prime minister's office clarified the circumstances of the incident.

The state secretary at the prime minister's office said that a threat arose in Moldovan airspace due to a drone, as a result of which Zelensky's departure to Oslo had to be delayed.

"It is unknown how close the drones were to his plane", – the Norwegian government emphasized.

Thus, there is currently no confirmed information that a drone directly approached the presidential aircraft or that Zelensky's plane narrowly avoided a collision.

Norwegian Finance Minister and former NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said that Zelensky personally informed the Norwegian side about the situation after arriving in Oslo on the evening of September 8.

According to Stoltenberg, the Ukrainian president said that his departure was delayed and there were certain threats to the plane. At the same time, the Norwegian minister stressed that he does not have sufficient information to assess the incident in more detail.

Around the same time that Zelensky was supposed to depart from Chisinau, Moldovan authorities did temporarily restrict the use of part of the airspace due to a Russian drone.

The Moldovan Ministry of Defense reported that on September 8 around 16:20, the country's airspace was violated by a drone that was preliminarily identified as a Shahed-type UAV. It subsequently left Moldovan airspace in the direction of Romania.

Romania also scrambled fighter jets due to a possible violation of its airspace, and Iasi Airport temporarily suspended operations.

A Ukrainian source later also told AFP that it was about an air threat declared in Moldova due to a Russian drone, and called the claims of direct danger to Zelensky exaggerated.

Thus, Støre's initial statement that Zelensky's plane was almost hit by a drone was subsequently significantly clarified: the presence of an air threat and the delay of departure were confirmed, but a direct approach of a drone to the president's aircraft was not established.