Norwegian Prime Minister: Incident Nearly Hit Zelensky's Plane as He Headed to Oslo

Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre announced that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s aircraft faced a threat from a drone while departing Moldova en route to Oslo, where he was attending the funeral of the late King Harald V of Norway. In statements to the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation on Wednesday, Støre said Zelenskyy’s plane “was nearly hit by a drone upon takeoff from Moldova,” adding that the incident reflected “the reality the Ukrainian president lives under amid the ongoing war with Russia.” The Norwegian prime minister did not provide further details about the nature of the threat or how close the drone came to the presidential aircraft. However, Behanoga Rasiaiah, a counselor in the Norwegian prime minister’s office, clarified that drone threats had been recorded in Moldovan airspace, which delayed Zelenskyy’s flight to the Norwegian capital. The Ukrainian president arrived in Oslo on Tuesday evening, where he held talks with Norwegian officials on military and civilian support for Kyiv, particularly efforts to bolster Ukraine’s air defense capabilities against ongoing Russian attacks.