Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s aircraft was nearly hit by a drone as it prepared for takeoff from Moldova on Tuesday, en route to Norway for the late King Harald V’s state funeral, according to Reuters.
Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre disclosed the near‑miss to public broadcaster NRK on Wednesday, following the safe arrival of Zelenskyy’s plane in Oslo on Tuesday evening.
“His plane was almost hit by a drone as it was about to take off from Moldova. That is the reality he is facing,” Støre said.
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FRANCE-G7-POLITICS-DIPLOMACY Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky gestures during his meeting with Britain’s Prime Minister on the sideline of the G7 summit, in Evian, eastern France, on June 16, 2026. (Isabel Infantes / POOL / AFP via Getty Images)
Later on Wednesday, a Moldovan government spokesperson reported that two Russian drones were involved in the incident, causing a temporary closure of the country’s airspace and delaying Zelenskyy’s flight to Oslo.
Takeoff was authorized after officials confirmed that one of the Russian drones had landed on Moldovan soil, a spokesperson told Reuters.
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This photograph taken on Jan. 5, 2026 shows a partial view of the village of Cuhurestii de Jos, Northern Moldova close to the Ukrainian border. Since the start of the conflict in February 2022, Moldova has recorded dozens of violations of its airspace, and several Russian missiles and drones have crashed on its territory. (Daniel Mihailescu / AFP via Getty Images)
One drone crashed into a field north of the capital, igniting a fire, while the other proceeded into Romanian airspace.
The incursions compelled Chișinău International Airport to temporarily suspend all arrivals and departures on Tuesday, redirecting inbound aircraft to holding patterns or nearby countries, according to flight‑tracking data.
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Moldova’s President Maia Sandu (L) Russian President Vladimir Putin (R) ( )
Moldovan President Maia Sandu condemned the incursions as a serious threat to civilian lives and also denounced a separate Russian drone strike on a border crossing with Ukraine that resulted in two fatalities.
The Institute for the Study of War also reported that a Russian Shahed drone traversed Moldovan and Romanian airspace for roughly an hour on Tuesday before crashing in Moldova.