Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky's flight from Moldova was delayed Tuesday afternoon when a drone entered the country's airspace while his plane was on the runway. The unmanned aircraft entered Moldovan airspace as Zelensky's plane was preparing for departure.
Recent weeks have seen an intensification of Russian drone attacks targeting Ukraine. Overnight into Tuesday, an attack on a Moldovan border crossing at Starokozache resulted in two fatalities. Russia has deployed new jet-powered unmanned aircraft that are faster and more challenging to intercept. Analysis indicates that the capital, Kyiv, has experienced an average of ten air raid alerts per day recently, the highest frequency since 2022.
Ukraine has also employed drones effectively, announcing a significant strike on Russian gas plants on Thursday. According to Ukraine's Special Operations Forces, drones traveled over 3,000 kilometers (1,864 miles) into Russia on Wednesday to hit a gas processing plant in the Yamalo-Nenets autonomous district in northern Siberia. This marked Ukraine's deepest strike into Russia since the conflict began, targeting a key oil and gas processing region for the country.
Earlier in the week, Russian forces attacked a petrol station in Kyiv overnight, causing serious injuries to four people. Bohdan Kukura, CEO of the oil company Ukrnafta, described the attack as "terror and intimidation of the civilian population" on Facebook. Russia has targeted hundreds of Ukrainian petrol stations in recent months as part of its strategy to disrupt the country's military operations.
The ongoing conflict between Russia and Ukraine commenced with Russia's invasion in February 2022. Peace talks, involving US representatives Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, are underway but have not yet yielded a resolution to end the conflict.