OSLO, Sept 10 — Ukraine and Moldova on Wednesday played down claims from Norway’s prime minister that a plane carrying President Volodymyr Zelensky was almost hit by a drone as it flew to Oslo.
Jonas Gahr Store told Norwegian public broadcaster NRK that Zelensky’s plane was “almost hit by a drone when it was taking off from Moldova”.
But a source in the Ukrainian presidency described the claim that Zelensky was at risk as “exaggerated”.
“It was an alert in Moldova when a Russian (drone) entered Moldovan and Romanian airspace,” the source told AFP.
In Chisinau, government spokesman Dumitru Ciorici said Moldova closed its airspace on Tuesday afternoon just after 4:30 pm local time due to a Russian drone that entered from the direction of Ukraine.
“The airspace was closed to protect aircraft flying over Moldova at the time: three departures and four arrivals were delayed as a result,” he added.
“After 1720, the authorities confirmed that the drone had come down and exploded... some 160 kilometres (100 miles) from Chisinau International Airport.
“Flight restrictions were then lifted. For the same reason, the plane of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky took off... later than scheduled.”
Zelensky arrived in Oslo on Tuesday evening and held talks with Store, Finance Minister Jens Stoltenberg and Foreign Minister Espen Barth Eide on Norwegian military aid, including air-defence support, and civilian assistance.
On Wednesday, he joined a host of other foreign dignitaries at the funeral of Norway’s King Harald, who died on August 28 aged 89.
Zelensky left Norway afterwards, headed for Canada and talks with leaders there, Store told NRK. — AFP
