Zelenskyy Says Russia Twice Targeted His Plane With Drones

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy revealed on Sept. 15 that his plane was targeted twice in recent Russian drone attacks.

The revelation came after Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Store said that Zelenskyy’s plane had almost been hit by a drone as it was taking off on Sept. 8 from Moldova for the funeral of Norway’s King Harald V in Oslo, the Norwegian capital.

“In Moldova, my presidential jet was there, and that’s why they attacked Moldova. They used airspace of Moldova,” Zelenskyy told CBS News in an interview on Tuesday.

“When we went back home, again through Chisinau, they did the same.”

During Tuesday’s interview, Zelenskyy suggested that Russia might not have wanted to attack him personally but wanted to scare him “in any way.”

He suggested that it was the same intimidation strategy Russia used in a drone attack that struck a train on the Ukraine–Poland border on Sept. 13.

The alleged targeting of the Ukrainian president’s plane comes as the United States has been pushing for an end to the war between Russia and Ukraine, which has gone on for more than four years.

Despite U.S. peace envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner holding meetings in both Kyiv and Moscow earlier this month, the fighting has continued.

Store previously said Zelenskyy informed him about a drone incident involving his plane during a meeting on Sept. 8.

“His flight was almost hit by a drone when it was taking off from Moldova,” Store told Norwegian state-owned broadcaster NRK. “That is the reality he lives in.”

The Moldovan Ministry of Defense confirmed that a Shahed-type drone coming from the direction of Ukraine violated Moldova’s airspace on Sept. 8 before entering Romanian airspace.

After the drone entered Romania’s airspace, two Spanish Air and Space Force F-18 jets were scrambled to monitor it, according to the Romanian Ministry of National Defense.

The drone eventually crashed near Mihaileni Vechi in Moldova after it entered Moldovan airspace for a second time.

On Sept. 13, a Russian drone struck a train on Ukraine’s border with Poland shortly after a group of American and European officials had left the station.

Former CIA Director David Petraeus, former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, and former Swedish Prime Minister Carl Bildt were among the dignitaries who narrowly avoided the drone attack.

In a statement on Telegram, Ukrainian railway operator Ukrzaliznytsia said it was “quite likely that the target of this Russian drone could also have been the diplomatic train.”

The railway operator noted that the diplomatic train departed earlier than planned as part of a real-time review of train schedules because of the “constant threat of Russian strikes.”

Zelenskyy told CBS News on Tuesday that Russia used the same strategy used to intimidate him in Sunday’s train attack.

“Maybe they didn’t know that some Americans had been there or maybe, oppositely, they knew, because I don’t trust them. I think that they knew,” Zelenskyy said. “And they attacked.”

The Ukrainian president suggested that Moscow repeatedly uses drone strikes as an intimidation tactic to “show their power.”

In addition to the train strike, both Russia and Ukraine have continued to exchange strikes on energy targets this week despite calls by President Donald Trump for the two countries to halt additional strikes on energy infrastructure.

Following a phone call with Russian President Vladimir Putin last week, Trump told reporters that the Russian leader wanted to make a deal to end the war.

However, Putin also issued a warning last week regarding a potential expansion of the conflict, suggesting that European countries sending troops to Ukraine would mean “war with Russia.”

“Now they’re talking about how they’re considering sending troops into Ukraine,” Putin told reporters at the 18th BRICS Summit in India. “That means a war with Russia.”