Russian drone incursion delays Zelensky flight from Moldova

A plane carrying Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky was delayed by a Russian drone as he prepared to fly to attend a state funeral in Oslo, Moldovan and Norwegian authorities say.

Zelensky and his wife Olena were on the jet at Chisinau, Moldova's capital, ahead of Wednesday's funeral of Norway's King Harald V when the unmanned aircraft crossed over the Moldovan border.

The drone prompted an immediate airspace shutdown and Zelensky's plane was left on the runway for around an hour before it could take off.

The flight was only authorised after it was confirmed the drone had come down 160km (100 miles) away. Asked by reporters on Thursday, the Kremlin said there had been no threat to the jet.

Zelensky's plane had been due to take off at around 16:30 (14:30 GMT) from Chisinau International Airport.

But Moldovan government spokesman Dumitru Ciorici told the BBC that Moldova had closed its airspace after noticing a Russian drone had entered it from the direction of Ukraine.

"Three departures and four arrivals were delayed as a result," he added.

"After 17:20 (15:20 GMT), the authorities confirmed that the drone had come down and exploded... some 160 kilometres from Chisinau International Airport."

Zelensky and his wife arrived safely in Oslo on Tuesday evening, where he held talks with Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre and other officials about military aid.

They joined other dignitaries for King Harald's funeral before flying on to Iceland for a brief visit and then to Canada for further talks.

Europe's royalty pay respects to King Harald V in Norway

There had initially been concerns about the threat from the drone incursion when he was in Chisinau.

Støre had told public broadcaster NRK: "His flight was almost hit by a drone when it was taking off from Moldova."

But a Ukraine source told Agence France Presse the risk had been "exaggerated".

Ukraine has closed its airspace to civilian aircraft since Russia launched its full-scale invasion in February 2022 and Zelensky does not use air travel in Ukraine due to the continuing threat from Russian strikes.

He typically rides by train to Poland before taking a flight to countries he is visiting.

The Ukrainian leader is said to have survived dozens of attempted assassination plots.

Russian drones have been targeting Ukraine with increasing intensity in recent weeks and an attack on a Moldovan border crossing at Starokozache killed two people overnight into Tuesday.

The Russian army has new jet-powered unmanned aircraft that are much faster and more difficult to intercept.

Analysis by BBC Verify has shown the capital Kyiv has now suffered more air raid alerts than at any time since 2022 – on average 10 times a day.

Ukraine has also had success with its use of drones and on Thursday announced what it called a "record hit" on Russia gas plants.

Drones flew more than 3,000km (1,864 miles) into Russia on Wednesday to hit a gas processing plant in the Yamalo-Nenets autonomous district of Northern Siberia.

Ukraine's Special Operations Forces said this was its deepest attack into Russia since the war began. Yamalo-Nenets is one of Russia's key oil and gas processing regions.

Overnight Russian forces attacked a petrol station in Kyiv, seriously injuring four people.

Oil company Ukrnafta's CEO Bohdan Kukura said on Facebook: "This is terror and intimidation of the civilian population."

Russia has attacked hundreds of Ukrainian petrol stations in recent months in an attempt to disrupt the country's military forces.

It has been locked in war with Ukraine since it invaded the country in February 2022.

Peace talks, led by US President Donald Trump's special envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner , are ongoing but have failed so far to find a solution to end the conflict.

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