Zelenskyy’s plane ‘almost hit’ by drone; Trump says Putin wants Ukraine deal

Ukraine and Moldova have played down claims from Norway’s prime minister that a plane carrying Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy was almost hit by a drone as it flew to Oslo.

Jonas Gahr Støre told Norwegian public broadcaster NRK on Thursday AEST that Zelenskyy’s plane was “almost hit by a drone when it was taking off from Moldova”.

But a source in the Ukrainian presidency described the claim that Zelenskyy was at risk as “exaggerated”.

“It was an alert in Moldova when a Russian (drone) entered Moldovan and Romanian airspace,” the source told the Agence France-Presse news agency (AFP).

In Chisinau, government spokesman Dumitru Ciorici said Moldova closed its airspace on Tuesday afternoon just after 4.30pm local time due to a Russian drone that entered from the direction of Ukraine.

“The airspace was closed to protect aircraft flying over Moldova at the time: three departures and four arrivals were delayed as a result,” he added.

“After 1720 [5.20pm], the authorities confirmed that the drone had come down and exploded … some 160km from Chisinau International Airport.

“Flight restrictions were then lifted. For the same reason, the plane of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy took off … later than scheduled.”

Zelenskyy arrived in Oslo on Tuesday evening and held talks with Støre, finance minister Jens Stoltenberg and foreign minister Espen Barth Eide on Norwegian military aid, including air-defence support, and civilian assistance.

On Wednesday, he joined a host of other foreign dignitaries at the funeral of Norway’s King Harald, who died on 28 August aged 89.

Trump says Putin wants deal

US President Donald Trump said on Thursday that he had a “great” conversation ‌with Russian President Vladimir Putin earlier in the week and that the ‌Russian leader wanted to make a deal to end the Ukraine war.

“He is wanting to make a deal, and if Zelenskyy is wanting to make a deal, that’d be very nice,” ‌Trump told ‌reporters ⁠before boarding Air Force One en route to Dallas for the Republican National Convention.

Trump spoke over the phone with Putin on Tuesday, shortly after US special envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner returned from a diplomatic swing through Moscow and Kyiv.

⁠The duo, who are in ‌charge of most major peace negotiations for the US, discussed potential proposals to bring the ‌war to a close.

Last month, Central Intelligence Agency director John Ratcliffe met with intelligence officials in Moscow, in part to encourage Russian officials to end their invasion.

Despite those efforts and Trump’s statements, intelligence officials in the US, Ukraine and throughout Europe ‌continue to doubt Putin is seriously interested in ending his ongoing war, now in its fourth year.

“The hold-up is two people who hate each other,” Trump told reporters, referring to Putin and Zelenskyy.

“I think more than anything else, it’s two people that hate each other.”

For the latest from SBS News, download our app and subscribe to our newsletter.