On Tuesday afternoon a Russian drone crossed into Moldovan airspace. Moldova closed its skies. A plane carrying Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, waiting at Chișinău International Airport to fly to Oslo, was delayed along with two other departures.

Those facts are agreed. Almost everything else about the incident is contested, and by three different parties — which makes it a useful case in how a single afternoon becomes several incompatible stories.

The three accounts

Norway. Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre told the public broadcaster NRK on Wednesday that Zelensky’s plane was almost hit by a drone as it was about to take off from Moldova, and that this was the reality the Ukrainian president faces. Støre did not say where his information came from, and did not say how close the drone came.

Ukraine, version one. A source in Zelensky’s own office told AFP that what happened was an airspace alert as a Russian drone entered Moldovan and Romanian airspace, and described the claim that the president had been at risk as exaggerated.

Ukraine, version two. A different source told the Kyiv Independent that a Shahed-type drone nearly hit the plane as it was departing.

Moldova has confirmed the airspace closure and the drone, and has not commented on how close it came to any aircraft.

What the physical record shows

Moldovan police said a Russian drone came down on Tuesday in a sunflower field outside a village in the Rîșcani district, starting four fires and injuring nobody. Government spokesman Dumitru Ciorici said Moldova closed its airspace on Tuesday afternoon to protect aircraft overflying the country, delaying three departures including Zelensky’s. Authorities confirmed the drone exploded roughly 160 kilometres from Chișinău airport. Restrictions were lifted and the plane took off late.

A hundred miles is a long way from an aircraft on a runway. That does not by itself resolve the dispute — the drone’s track before it came down is not public, and a second drone also crossed Moldovan airspace the same day — but it is the only distance anyone has published, and it does not obviously support “almost hit”.

Why each party might say what it says

This is speculation about motive and should be read as such. But the incentives are not hidden.

A European leader hosting Zelensky has reason to convey urgency about the threat Russia poses, particularly while discussing air defence cooperation — Zelensky’s Oslo meetings included talks on a European anti-ballistic missile project.

A president’s own office has reason to avoid the story that he was nearly killed, which invites questions about whether he should travel at all and hands Moscow a demonstration of reach.

And an anonymous source who briefs the opposite of the official line may be correcting the record or may be advancing a different argument inside the same government.

Moldova’s ambassador to the United States, Vladislav Kulminski, told CNN the incident was likely not an accident. President Maia Sandu called the drone intrusions a serious threat to people’s lives, and condemned a Russian drone attack on a border crossing with Ukraine the same day in which two people were killed.

The pattern behind the disagreement

There is precedent. In December 2025, four military-style drones breached a no-fly zone around Zelensky’s approach to Dublin, and a Ukrainian adviser said at the time that drones had indeed been present but the visit was unaffected. The same shape of exchange: host country alarm, Ukrainian de-emphasis.

What is not in dispute is the underlying situation. Russian drones and missiles have repeatedly crossed into Moldovan and Romanian airspace in recent months, and in August a Russian cruise missile transited Moldova during an attack on Odesa. Moldova is not a NATO member, and its published record of these events describes detection and notification rather than interception. We look separately today at why that is, and why it is a harder problem than it sounds.

Zelensky travelled on to Canada on Wednesday, where he is due to address Prime Minister Mark Carney’s cabinet and to remain until Friday.

Sources

• Reuters, Norway PM says drone nearly hit Zelenskiy’s plane during Moldova departure, 9 September 2026
• Associated Press, Flight carrying Zelenskyy delayed in Moldova after Russian drone alert, 9 September 2026
• Washington Post, Plane carrying Zelensky threatened by drone in Moldova, Norway’s premier says, 9 September 2026
• AFP, citing a source in the Ukrainian presidency describing the risk as exaggerated
• Kyiv Independent, citing a source describing a near miss
• CNN, interview with Moldova’s ambassador to the US, Vladislav Kulminski
• Moldovan police and government statements, 8–9 September 2026