Zelensky’s Drone-Disrupted Flight Highlights Wartime Travel Risks as Kyiv Calls Near-Miss Claims Exaggerated

A Russian drone incursion temporarily delayed President Volodymyr Zelensky’s flight from Moldova to Norway, highlighting the security risks surrounding Ukraine’s wartime diplomacy. Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre said Wednesday that Zelensky’s aircraft was “almost hit by a drone” while preparing to leave Moldova for Oslo.JOIN US ON TELEGRAMFollow our coverage of the war on the @Kyivpost_official. Moldovan authorities said two Russian drones violated regional airspace, prompting a temporary closure. One crashed about 160 kilometers from Chișinău airport, while another crossed into Romania. Zelensky’s plane departed once the immediate threat had passed. A Ukrainian presidential source told AFP that suggestions Zelensky had been in immediate danger were “exaggerated.” Diplomacy on the move Zelensky traveled to Oslo for the funeral of Norway’s King Harald V and talks with Støre on air defense, energy support and security assistance. The trip fits an intensive wartime travel schedule that began with his first foreign visit to Washington in December 2022. Poland’s Institute of New Europe counted 37 foreign visits in 2023 and 41 in 2024, reaching 92 visits to 36 countries by mid-2025. Ukraine’s Presidential Office said Zelensky made another 59 visits to 25 countries in 2025, largely focused on securing weapons, air defense, financing and political support. Zelensky 41, Putin 11 While Kyiv has pursued an expansive global diplomatic campaign, Vladimir Putin’s international travel has remained far more limited. Other Topics of Interest PACE Panel Backs Using €260B in Russian Assets for Ukraine’s Legal Claims PACE lawmakers backed a legal route to use frozen Russian state assets to enforce compensation owed to Ukraine. An analysis of Kremlin itineraries by the Russian newspaper Vedomosti counted just six foreign trips by Putin in 2023 and 11 in 2024 – a fraction of Zelensky’s dozens of annual visits. Beyond the numbers, the geography of Putin’s travel underscores his growing isolation. His itineraries remain concentrated among friendly autocracies and post-Soviet neighbors, most notably China, Belarus and Kazakhstan. His diplomatic map narrowed further after the International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant in March 2023 over the unlawful deportation and transfer of Ukrainian children, complicating travel to the court’s member states. The figures do not suggest Putin is entirely grounded, but they highlight a far more constrained diplomatic footprint than Ukraine’s expansive outreach. Different wartime diplomacy Ukraine has built broad international support, making face-to-face diplomacy central to Zelensky’s wartime strategy. His trips often combine political meetings with negotiations over weapons, air defense and financial support. That was evident again in Oslo, where Zelensky and Støre discussed Patriot interceptors and the FREYJA air defense initiative. Putin’s diplomacy, meanwhile, has become increasingly concentrated among governments willing to maintain close relations with Moscow despite its invasion of Ukraine. A risk built into the schedule Zelensky’s travel repeatedly takes him through European airspace where Russian missiles and drones have spilled into neighboring countries. Romania and Moldova have frequently reported airspace violations and drone wreckage during Russian attacks on Ukraine. On Tuesday, Sept. 8, the threat was serious enough for Moldova to briefly close its airspace and delay Zelensky’s departure, making the risks facing Ukraine’s wartime leadership unusually visible. Sevinj Osmanqizi is an experienced journalist who writes extensively for Kyiv Post on foreign policy, international security and geopolitics. Based in Washington, D.C., her work focuses on Ukraine, Russia’s war and the broader post-Soviet space.