Sept 15 (Reuters) – Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said in an interview broadcast on Tuesday that Russian drones attacked Moldovan airspace twice while he was in the country aboard his aircraft in transit.
Zelenskiy told the U.S. television network CBS that he was in Moldova on Ukraine’s western border, at Chisinau airport, on his way to and from a trip abroad when the incidents occurred.
“In Moldova, my presidential jet was there and that’s why they attacked Moldova, the airspace of Moldova. Maybe they didn’t want to attack me personally…,” Zelenskiy said.
“When we came back home, again through Chisinau, again they did the same.”
On September 9, a Moldovan government spokesperson said the departure of Zelenskiy’s aircraft for Norway was delayed as Moldovan authorities closed the country’s airspace over a drone alert.
Two Russian drones entered Moldovan airspace on that day. One landed in a field north of the capital, triggering a fire, while the second carried on into Romanian airspace.
Zelenskiy had not previously spoken of the second incident.
It was not clear exactly when the president was again in transit in Moldova on his way back to Ukraine from Canada.
Moldovan authorities said two drones entered the country’s airspace on Monday, September 14 for about 10 minutes each over the space of an hour before noon local time.
On Sunday, a Russian drone hit a passenger train on Ukraine’s border with NATO member Poland, shortly after former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and other European diplomats had used the same line.
No casualties were reported.
(Reporting by Ron Popeski and by Alexander Tanas in Chisinau; Editing by David Gregorio)
