America’s enemies are getting bolder. But this is a line too far.
Because a Russian drone nearly took down the president’s plane in a scary close call.
Vladimir Putin’s war machine came dangerously close to a catastrophic escalation this week, when a Russian drone very nearly struck the plane carrying Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy as he prepared to depart Moldova for the late Norwegian king’s state funeral. It’s exactly the kind of reckless brinkmanship that should worry every American paying attention to how far Putin is willing to push his war beyond Ukraine’s own borders.
Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre confirmed the near-miss to public broadcaster NRK on Wednesday, one day after Zelenskyy’s aircraft arrived safely in Oslo. “His plane was almost hit by a drone as it was about to take off from Moldova. That is the reality he is facing,” Støre said, though he didn’t specify exactly how close the drone came to actually striking the aircraft.
Whatever the precise margin, “almost hit” is not language any responsible head of government uses lightly when describing an incident involving a foreign leader’s plane. This wasn’t some stray munition landing in an empty field miles away — this was a direct threat to the physical safety of a sitting head of state traveling for a solemn diplomatic occasion, the funeral of a foreign monarch.
According to a Moldovan government spokesperson, two separate Russian drones were involved in the incident. Zelenskyy’s departure was delayed after Moldovan authorities were forced to close the country’s airspace entirely, and his aircraft was only cleared for takeoff once officials confirmed that one of the Russian drones had actually landed on Moldovan territory rather than continuing to pose an active threat.
One of those drones landed in a field north of Moldova’s capital, sparking a fire on the ground, while the second continued onward into neighboring Romanian airspace before ultimately crashing inside Moldova itself, according to the Institute for the Study of War. That’s two separate incursions into the sovereign airspace of two different NATO-adjacent and NATO-member nations within a single incident, underscoring just how expansive and indiscriminate Russia’s drone campaign has become across Eastern Europe.
The disruption wasn’t limited to a single presidential flight either. The incursions forced Chișinău International Airport to temporarily suspend all arrivals and departures Tuesday, sending incoming commercial flights into holding patterns or diverting them entirely to neighboring countries. Ordinary civilian air travel across the region ground to a halt because Russia’s military apparatus can no longer distinguish, or simply doesn’t care to distinguish, between legitimate military targets and civilian infrastructure serving millions of ordinary people.
Moldovan President Maia Sandu didn’t mince words in her own response, denouncing the drone incursions as a “serious threat to people’s lives.” Sandu also separately condemned a distinct Russian drone strike on a border crossing between Moldova and Ukraine that k*lled two people, a grim reminder that these incidents aren’t just close calls and near-misses — Russian drones have already taken innocent lives along this same stretch of contested airspace.
This latest episode fits into an unmistakable pattern that’s been building for months. Russia has increasingly used drone incursions to probe the defenses and resolve of NATO member states and their neighbors, testing exactly how far Putin can push before triggering a more serious military or diplomatic response from the West. Germany recently blamed Russia after an explosive-laden drone was discovered near Ukrainian cargo planes at a major German airport, and reports have separately warned that Russia may be using its shadow fleet of vessels specifically to probe NATO’s drone defense capabilities in the Baltic and beyond.
Despite the danger, Zelenskyy pressed forward with his diplomatic obligations. He arrived safely in Oslo Tuesday evening, where he sat down with Norwegian officials including Foreign Minister Espen Barth Eide and Finance Minister Jens Stoltenberg to discuss continued military aid, including critically needed air defense support, along with ongoing civilian assistance for Ukraine. That Zelenskyy continued on with these meetings mere hours after nearly being struck by a Russian drone speaks to the remarkable, grinding resilience Ukraine’s leadership has had to develop over years of sustained Russian aggression.
It’s worth pausing on the broader strategic picture here too. Putin’s willingness to risk striking, even unintentionally, the aircraft of a sitting foreign head of state traveling to a state funeral represents exactly the kind of reckless escalation that should give pause to anyone still arguing that ongoing peace negotiations can proceed on good faith terms with the Kremlin. Whether this incident was a deliberate provocation or simply the inevitable result of Russia’s indiscriminate drone campaign matters less than the fact that it happened at all.
American policymakers watching this unfold should take note of just how unstable and dangerous the security situation across Eastern Europe has become. Drone incursions that threaten civilian aviation, foreign heads of state, and NATO member airspace all in a single 48-hour window are not the actions of a country negotiating peace in good faith. They’re the actions of a military apparatus operating with reckless disregard for anyone caught in its path, foreign leader or otherwise.
For now, Zelenskyy remains safe, having completed his diplomatic mission in Oslo despite the harrowing scare on departure. But this incident should serve as a sobering reminder to Western leaders, including those in Washington pushing for renewed sanctions pressure on Moscow, that Putin’s war shows no sign of respecting boundaries, whether territorial, diplomatic, or otherwise. The next near-miss might not end the same way this one did.
