Zelensky's Private Jet 'Nearly Hit By a Drone', Says Norway

Norway’s government has revealed that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky had a close-shave with a Russian drone on Tuesday, a statement that Kyiv later moved to deny.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky flew to Oslo, Norway on Tuesday to attend the funeral of the King of the Norwegians, Harald V, on Wednesday. The President, dressed all in black, talked behind the coffin with other world leaders including several European royals, prime ministers, and presidents.

Yet the Norwegian Prime Minister, who had extensive talks with Zelensky in Oslo in the hours before the funeral took place, revealed the Ukrainian leader had not had a restful journey, or even night’s sleep after arriving in Scandanavia. Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre told Norwegian state broadcaster NRK of Zelensky’s journey: “His plane was nearly hit by a drone during takeoff in Moldova. That’s the reality he lives in”.

Because of the threat to aircraft over Ukrainian skies, Zelensky’s government executive transport jet lives permanently outside Ukraine, typically flying from airports in Poland and Romania when he has to travel abroad. Likewise, foreign dignitaries visiting Ukraine generally fly into Poland and transfer to a special VIP train overnight to Kyiv.

The Ukrainian government quickly moved to damp down the idea that President Zelensky had been at risk during his Tuesday flight from Moldova to Norway, claiming the account given by Oslo had been “exaggerated”. Moldova added the take-off of President Zelensky’s plane had been delayed because national airspace had been closed to protect flights from a Russian drone entering their airspace from Ukraine. They said it later crashed 160km away from Chisinau International Airport, reports Le Figaro.

Denials aside, Norwegian sources appear to remain convinced there was a threat to Zelensky’s plane. Jens Stoltenberg, a former Norwegian Prime Minister and Secretary General of NATO who now serves as Norway’s Finance Minister said Zelensky had personally told him the story on Tuesday night during their talks. He stated: “He told us about it last night when we had a meeting with him. I don’t dare go into the details about it, but he was delayed, and there were some threats against the plane. But I don’t know enough about the details to explain anything more”.

In a further development, Britain’s The Daily Telegraph states that during the drone incursion into Moldovan airspace in Tuesday, President Zelensky personally offered the country to launch one of Ukraine’s F-16 fighter jets to help intercept the jet-powered weapon.

It is stated that during his talks in Norway, President Zelensky discussed developing Ukrainian air defences with representatives from the Norwegian and Finnish governments. On the agenda was ‘Freya’, a proposed new pan-European air defence missile system which is intended to do a similar job to the world-leading American Patriot missile, but at a radically lower cost. Ukraine’s involvement in Freya is through their Fire Point defence technology company which is best known, perhaps, for its ‘Flamingo’ cruise missile, which Ukraine claimed to have used in remarkably long-range deep strikes against Russian energy infrastructure in the Arctic Circle this week.

President Zelensky is now in Canada for talks with Prime Minister Mark Carney, again to talk air defence and seek future support for the defence against the Russian invasion.