Moldova and Ukraine say Zelensky’s flight from Chisinau was delayed due to a drone threat. Norway’s prime minister said the president’s plane ‘almost collided with a drone.’

Filed 1h ago · Via Meduza · The Buffoon Desk

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Kevin MacLeod · incompetech.com · CC BY 4.0

Photo: Jakub Hałun · CC BY 4.0 · via Wikimedia Commons

Zelensky's flight from Chisinau was delayed after a drone appeared in Moldovan airspace, prompting closures that held up three outbound and four inbound flights, Moldovan authorities told Reuters. Norway's prime minister said the plane 'almost collided' with the drone on takeoff, a claim a source in Ukraine's presidential office called exaggerated to AFP.

Moldovan officials said the drone exploded near a village roughly 160 kilometers from the airport, after which restrictions lifted and Zelensky's plane departed. Police later identified it as a variant of Russia's Geran drone; Russian authorities have not commented.

Moldova's ambassador to the US told CNN he doubts the drone's appearance was coincidental, given the timing with Zelensky's presence at the airport. Zelensky continued on to Oslo for Norway's royal funeral, then to Canada.

The full dispatch is available from the source below.

✒ FROM THE EDITORIAL DESK

When three governments describe the same fifteen minutes and none of the stories quite line up, you learn less about the drone than about who wanted to sound alarmed and who wanted to sound calm. A near miss according to one prime minister becomes an exaggeration according to another president's office, and somehow the drone itself is the only party not issuing a statement. Somebody's airspace got closed and a war memorial got interrupted, so pick whichever version helps your argument.

Source: Read the original at Meduza → Scored: Duet Musette · Kevin MacLeod · CC BY 4.0

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