Zelensky says Russia twice targeted his plane over Moldova in recent weeks

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in an interview with CBS News that Russia has targeted his presidential aircraft twice in recent weeks in connection with Moldova — once while the plane was in the country, and again as it returned home via Chisinau.

Zelensky described these incidents as part of a deliberate Russian strategy aimed at intimidating him personally as well as other foreign leaders.

Reference to border attack

During the interview, the president also recalled a September 13 incident in which a Russian drone struck a locomotive near the border between Ukraine and Poland. At the time, another train stopped at Yahodyn station carried former CIA Director David Petraeus. Zelensky said he believed Russia likely knew Americans were present.

Earlier reports

On September 9, Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre said a drone had nearly collided with the Ukrainian president's plane as it departed Moldova for Oslo. Moldova had partially closed its airspace around that time due to a Russian drone that entered the country, which Moldova's defense ministry initially identified as a Shahed-type device. The drone reportedly later left Moldovan airspace toward Romania, and a separate drone was later reported to have crashed in a field, with its type unspecified. No strike near Chisinau airport itself was officially reported.