Zelensky: Russia twice tried to attack my plane with drones

President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky stated that Russia has twice tried to attack with drones the plane he was aboard over the past weeks. Both episodes occurred during the Ukrainian president's flights over Moldova. Moldovan authorities confirmed Russian drones in their airspace, but previously did not claim that their target was specifically Zelensky's plane.

The Ukrainian president told about this in an interview with CBS News published on September 15.

According to Zelensky, the first episode occurred during his trip through Chisinau to Norway in early September.

"My presidential plane was in Moldova, and that is why they attacked Moldova," Zelensky said.

He claims that the appearance of the Russian drone was connected specifically with his flight.

The first incident took place before departure to Norway

This refers to the events of September 8, when Zelensky flew from Chisinau to Oslo. The next day he was to attend the funeral of King Harald V of Norway.

That day a Russian drone entered Moldova's airspace from Ukraine. After its detection, the country's authorities after 16:30 temporarily closed the airspace to ensure the safety of civilian aircraft.

The restrictions affected three flights, including the plane Zelensky was supposed to depart on. As a result, the presidential plane left for Norway with a delay.

Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre later said that Zelensky's plane "was nearly hit" by a drone during its departure from Moldova.

However, the Ukrainian side's initial version was more cautious. A source in the Office of the President of Ukraine told AFP at the time that an alert had indeed been declared in Moldova due to a Russian drone that entered the airspace of Moldova and Romania, but called the claim of a direct threat to Zelensky's plane exaggerated.

The Moldovan government also did not claim a confirmed attempt to attack the presidential plane. Chisinau reported only a violation of its airspace by a Russian drone and related security measures.

According to Moldovan authorities, the drone later fell near the settlement of Mihăilenii Vechi in the Rîșcani district, about 160 km from Chisinau. After the threat was eliminated, the country's airspace was reopened.

The second incident had not been reported before

In the CBS News interview, Zelensky for the first time spoke about another similar episode that occurred a few days later.

According to him, during the return of the Ukrainian delegation home through Chisinau, Russian drones again appeared in Moldova's airspace.

"When we were returning home, again through Chisinau, they did the same thing," the president said.

CBS News specifies that one or two drones entered Moldova's airspace then. All members of the presidential delegation remained safe.

At the time of the incident, Ukrainian officials could not confirm whether the appearance of the drones was a deliberate attempt to attack the president's plane. Until the current interview with Zelensky, this episode had not been publicly reported.

Zelensky considers this part of an intimidation strategy

Now the Ukrainian president claims that both episodes were intentional. In his opinion, Russia is thus trying to intimidate not only the Ukrainian leadership, but also foreign politicians who visit Ukraine or contact Kyiv.

Zelensky also linked these cases to other attacks during which foreign guests of Ukraine were endangered.

CBS News reminds that on September 13 a Russian drone attacked a passenger train carrying a foreign delegation, including European officials and former CIA Director David Petraeus. Passengers had to be evacuated near the Polish border.

Zelensky suggested that the Russian side could have known about the presence of foreign representatives on the train. There are no independent confirmations of this assumption either.

Thus, the fact that Russian drones appeared during at least Zelensky's first flight over Moldova was confirmed by the country's authorities. However, no public evidence has been presented so far that the drones had the task of directly hitting the presidential plane. The claim of two targeted attacks is Zelensky's own assessment.

Based on: CBS News, CBS News/AFP, Moldpres, Government of Norway