Zelensky said Russia launched drones twice while his plane was in Moldova

Zelensky said Russia launched drones twice while his plane was in Moldova

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky stated that Russia launched drones twice while his plane was in Moldovan airspace.

"My presidential plane was in Moldova, and that is why they attacked Moldova. They used Moldovan airspace. Maybe they didn't want to attack me personally... We did not report this to the media, but when we were returning home (to Ukraine) via Chisinau, they did it again," Zelensky said.

To a journalist's question about whether Moscow was trying to intimidate the Ukrainian president in this way, Zelensky answered in the affirmative. The president made these remarks in response to a question about a Russian drone striking a train traveling from Ukraine to Poland on September 13.

Next to the attacked train was a special train carrying European diplomats to Poland. It also carried former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and one of the closest advisors to the German Chancellor, Günter Sautter.

Zelensky said Russia knew there was a "large delegation of Europeans and Americans" on the train.

"And they carried out the attack. They have done such things in Moldova, Romania, and sometimes in Poland. This is an ongoing process. This is how they show their strength, and you realize that no one will respond to it," Zelensky said.

Ukrainian president's plane narrowly missed colliding with a drone

On September 9, Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre said that the president's plane narrowly missed colliding with a drone while flying from Moldova to Oslo. Zelensky arrived in Oslo from Moldova on the evening of September 8 to attend the funeral of King Harald V. After the ceremony, the Ukrainian president met with Jonas Gahr Støre.

According to the Moldova Libera publication, the signal about the presence of a drone in the country's airspace was received at 16:30. After 17:20, the drone exploded near a village in the Riscani district, about 160 kilometers from Chisinau airport. After that, the flight restrictions were lifted, and Zelensky's plane took off. An AFP source in the Ukrainian president's office called the Norwegian prime minister's statement about the plane narrowly missing a collision with a drone an "exaggeration."