Jens Asbjørn Bøgen
The plane was cleared for take-off, when the alarm sounded.
A drone alert kept the Ukrainian President, Volodomyr Zelenskyy’s, plane grounded before his departure for Norway earlier this week, Reuters reports.
Fortunately, the aircraft made it safely to Norway on Tuesday evening.
Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre met with Zelenskyy the next morning. When Støre asked about his night, the Ukrainian president admitted it had been rough, explaining that he spent hours on the phone tracking fresh missile strikes across his homeland.
In an interview with broadcaster NRK, Støre said: “This is the reality he faces.”
The Norwegian leader also described the overall situation in Ukraine as “a very dramatic situation,” adding that the ongoing defense effort leaves “a deep impression” on everyone watching.
Ukrainian presidential officials told AFP that the incident was a regional air alert triggered a Russian drones breaching Moldovan airspace.
According to Reuters, Zelenskyy’s plane was cleared for take-off when the drone alert sounded, delaying the departure.
Shadowed in the skies
That trip to Scandinavia was not an isolated incident. Norwegian Finance Minister Jens Stoltenberg and Foreign Minister Espen Barth Eide also met Zelenskyy shortly after his arrival, but airspace risks had already followed him elsewhere.
Air raid alerts rocked neighboring Romania on August 14 amid Russian strikes on Odesa. Another rogue drone breached Romanian airspace during the barrage, showing just how fragile regional borders remain.
Trouble brewed over Ireland too. According to United24 Media, four military-grade drones tracked Zelenskyy and First Lady Olena Zelenska as they flew into Dublin, arriving precisely where the presidential plane was slated to pass. A slightly early landing saved them from a direct confrontation.
Those drones later circled a covertly stationed Irish Navy vessel in the Irish Sea. Local law enforcement believed the operators launched from northeast Dublin and deliberately flew with lights on to provoke a disruption. Authorities chose not to shoot them down.
