Russian drone incursions into Moldova delay Zelensky’s flight to Norway, prompting temporary airspace closure and disrupting several flights.
A Russian drone incursion into Moldovan airspace delayed Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s flight as he prepared to travel to Oslo for the state funeral of Norway’s King Harald V.
Zelensky and his wife, Olena, were aboard the presidential jet at Chisinau International Airport on Wednesday when the unmanned aircraft crossed into Moldova from the direction of Ukraine.
The incident prompted Moldovan authorities to shut down the country’s airspace temporarily, leaving Zelensky’s aircraft on the runway for about an hour before it was cleared to depart.
Moldovan government spokesman Dumitru Ciorici told the BBC that the drone had entered Moldovan airspace from the direction of Ukraine, forcing authorities to suspend flights.
“Three departures and four arrivals were delayed as a result,” Ciorici said.
He added that authorities confirmed after 17:20 local time that the drone had come down and exploded about 160 kilometres from Chisinau International Airport.
Zelensky’s flight had been scheduled to depart at around 16:30 local time, or 14:30 GMT.
Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre said Zelensky’s aircraft had come close to being affected by the drone during take-off.
“His flight was almost hit by a drone when it was taking off from Moldova,” Støre told Norwegian public broadcaster NRK.
However, a Ukrainian source told Agence France-Presse that the risk posed to Zelensky’s aircraft had been “exaggerated”.
The Kremlin, when asked about the incident on Thursday, said there had been no threat to the Ukrainian president’s aircraft.
Ukraine has maintained a ban on civilian air travel since Russia launched its full-scale invasion in February 2022 because of the continuing threat from Russian strikes.
Zelensky typically travels by train to Poland before taking commercial or government flights to other countries.
The latest incident comes amid an intensification of Russian drone attacks against Ukraine and neighbouring areas.
An overnight Russian attack on a Moldovan border crossing at Starokozache reportedly killed two people, while Russian forces have increasingly deployed faster, jet-powered unmanned aircraft that are more difficult to intercept.
BBC Verify analysis has found that Kyiv has experienced more air raid alerts than at any point since 2022, averaging about 10 alerts a day. Ukrainian Air Force data also shows that Russia launched jet-powered drones against Ukraine every day in August.
Ukraine has also stepped up its long-range drone operations inside Russia.
On Thursday, Ukrainian authorities announced what they described as a “record hit” on Russian gas infrastructure after drones travelled more than 3,000 kilometres into Russia to strike a gas processing plant in the Yamalo-Nenets autonomous district of northern Siberia.
Ukraine’s Special Operations Forces said the operation was its deepest strike inside Russian territory since the war began. The Yamalo-Nenets region is one of Russia’s major oil and gas processing areas.
Meanwhile, Russian forces overnight attacked a petrol station in Kyiv, seriously injuring four people.
Ukrnafta chief executive Bohdan Kukura described the attack as “terror and intimidation of the civilian population”.
Russia has targeted hundreds of Ukrainian petrol stations in recent months in an effort to disrupt fuel supplies and affect Ukraine’s military operations.
