Russia Twice Tried to Attack Zelensky’s Plane With Drones in Moldova

Russia twice attempted to attack Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s plane with drones while he was in Moldova.

Zelensky shared this in an interview with CBS News.

“My presidential plane was in Moldova, and that is why they attacked Moldova. When we returned home, again passing through Chișinău, they did the same thing,” the President said.

Zelensky also noted that on September 13, a drone attacked a passenger train carrying foreign officials who were visiting Ukraine, including senior EU officials and former CIA Director David Petraeus.

They evacuated near the Polish border.

“Perhaps they didn’t know that there were Americans on board, or perhaps, on the contrary, they did know, because I don’t trust them. I think they knew. That is why there were Europeans, Americans, and a large delegation on this train, and they attacked it,” the President said.

Attack on the Plane

A source for Suspilne in the Office of the President of Ukraine said that Zelensky’s plane was not in the air at the same time as the Russian drone.

When the presidential plane was scheduled to depart Moldova for Oslo, the Ukrainian side monitored Russian drone movements and waited for them to disappear from radar.

Zelensky’s plane remained on the ground during this time.
The Ukrainian side also proposed deploying F-16 fighter jets to destroy the drones, but this ultimately proved unnecessary.

At 4:20 p.m., one of the drones crossed the Ukrainian-Moldovan border in the Odesa region. At 4:38 p.m., it entered Romanian airspace, flying approximately 70 kilometers into Romanian territory.

At around 5:04 p.m., it returned to Moldova, and at 5:15 p.m., it disappeared from radar. According to the source, the drone likely crashed.

Zelensky’s plane left Moldovan airspace at around 5:30 p.m. The Office of the President emphasized that, by then, no Russian drones were being tracked in the air.

Moldovan authorities noted that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s plane departed from Chișinău on September 8 after a delay, following the temporary closure of Moldovan airspace after a Russian drone was detected.

Meanwhile, officials in Chișinău did not confirm Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre’s claim that the presidential plane had allegedly “barely avoided being hit” by the drone.

On September 10, Moldovan authorities said that the Russian drone, which had prompted the temporary closure of Moldovan airspace and delayed the departure of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s plane, crashed and exploded 160 kilometers from Chișinău International Airport.