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Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy accused Russia of twice attempting to target his presidential plane with drones during recent trips through Moldova, telling CBS News that he believes the incidents were part of a strategy to intimidate him and other foreign leaders.
“In Moldova, my presidential jet was there, and that's why they attacked Moldova,” Zelenskyy said in an interview published Tuesday. “When we went back home, again through Chisinau, they did the same.”
Zelenskyy said one or two drones also entered Moldovan airspace during his return to Ukraine several days after the first incident, which CBS News said had not previously been reported.
Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Store said on Sept. 9 that Zelenskyy’s plane had “almost” been hit by a drone as it prepared to leave Moldova for Oslo, where the Ukrainian president was attending the funeral of Norway’s King Harald V.
“That is the reality he lives in,” Store said, without providing further details.
Moldovan authorities later said the country’s airspace had been temporarily closed after a drone entered Moldovan airspace, delaying several flights.
Zelenskyy’s plane was on the ground at the time. The drone later crashed about 160 kilometers from Chisinau International Airport, after which restrictions were lifted, and Zelenskyy’s aircraft departed.
Ukrainian officials said all members of the presidential delegation were safe, and it was unclear at the time whether the incident had been intentional.
A Ukrainian presidential source also described claims that Zelenskyy had been at risk as “exaggerated.”
Zelenskyy, however, told CBS News on Tuesday that he viewed the incidents as deliberate Russian efforts to intimidate him and other foreign officials.
CBS News also reported that a Russian drone struck a passenger train Sunday carrying foreign dignitaries visiting Ukraine, including senior European officials and former CIA Director David Petraeus, forcing them to evacuate near the Polish border.
Zelenskyy said he believed Russia may have known foreign officials were aboard.
“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,” he said. “That's why, Europeans, Americans, and the big delegation had been in this train, and they attacked.”
Unidentified drones, including some traced back to Russia, have increasingly entered European airspace in recent months, according to CBS News.
On Tuesday, NATO fighter jets shot down a drone in Lithuanian airspace for the first time, The Associated Press reported, citing Lithuanian military officials.
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