“Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s plane was almost hit by a drone.” This sentence, pronounced by the Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Store, has alarmed international chancelleries. The alarm went off on September 9th. No official comment from Zelensky for now. Let’s see what we know and what this complaint means at an international level.
The news, as mentioned, was released by Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Store speaking to the Norwegian public broadcaster NRK. The plane Zelensky was traveling on, heading from Moldova to Oslo for the funeral of Norwegian King Harald, was reportedly “almost hit by a drone” upon take-off. The departure was therefore postponed from the scheduled time. “This – Store’s consideration – is the reality in which he lives”. He provided no other details about the incident.
A source in the Ukrainian presidency gave a more detailed account to AFP: “There was an alarm in Moldova when a Russian (drone) entered Moldovan and Romanian airspace.” However, the source wanted to minimize the risks. In the same hours, an attack with Russian drones on the border between Ukraine and Moldova caused the death of two civilians at a checkpoint.
The Ukrainian president, however, maintained the utmost secrecy about the incident. Even on social media, where he posts frequent updates, no comments or references to the incident appeared.
We paid our respects to King Harald V.
Ukraine will always be grateful to Norway for all its assistance. This support comes not only from the government, but also from the Royal Family and all the people of Norway.I remember with gratitude our warm meeting with His Majesty and… pic.twitter.com/TuYd4vatSH
— Volodymyr Zelenskyy / Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) September 9, 2026
The peace negotiations
The disturbing episode reported by Store occurred while diplomacy is struggling despite the openings declared in words. The Kiev leader said he was “ready to compromise” and the Kremlin openly expressed its hope of resuming tripartite talks with Kiev and Washington soon. “There is a common political will to resume trilateral negotiations. We hope in the near future,” said Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov, who said a “roadmap” for resolving the conflict could emerge in the coming weeks. However, the feeling is that of too unstable balances. “We are moving towards a trilateral format in the talks, but I cannot reveal the details: we have agreed with the Americans to work internally first and then communicate publicly,” Zelensky explained in an interview with La Stampa and other international media. “We are ready to compromise”, the Ukrainian leader then clarified, “but both sides must make progress. It cannot always be Ukraine that gives in: we have already made many compromises”. Zelensky then made clear the need to have Europe at the table.
Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani intervened on this point with “advice as a friend of Ukraine: it is good to involve not only France and Germany but also Italy and Poland”.