Zelensky's plane threatened by Russian drone as strikes hit Ukraine and Moldovan border

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky's flight from Moldova to Norway was delayed after it was almost hit by a Russian drone, Norwegian prime minister Jonas Gahr Store said.

Officials in Moldova said they had to shut down the country’s airspace because of a drone incursion as Russian forces targeted the border between that country and Ukraine this week.

“His flight was almost hit by a drone when it was taking off from Moldova. That is the reality he lives in,” Store said yesterday. The drone exploded around 160km from Moldova’s main Chișinău International Airport. The airspace restrictions were eventually lifted and Zelensky’s plane took off later than scheduled.

At least two people were killed yesterday when a swarm of Russian drones hit a border crossing between Ukraine and Moldova in the southern region of Odesa.

The drone that entered Moldovan airspace on Tuesday crossed into neighbouring Romania, a Nato member, where it was tracked through several northeastern counties.

Another Russian drone had crashed in a sunflower field on Tuesday causing four fires to break out, Moldovan police said.

CIA director John Ratcliffe is preparing to take a bigger role in Washington's negotiations with Russia and Ukraine, US officials told their European counterparts, the Financial Times reported on Wednesday.

CIA spokesperson Liz Lyons denied the report, calling it "false" in a post on X.

The report, citing people familiar with the matter, said the White House is considering scaling back the involvement of US envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner in the Ukraine peace effort.

At least five people have been killed and 24 injured in a Russian air strike on Ukraine’s Sumy, police officials said this morning.

Regional governor Oleh Hryhorov said earlier that a Russian drone had struck a shopping centre in Sumy on Wednesday and put the toll at two killed and 20 injured.

Russian drones hit a border crossing between Ukraine and Moldova in the southern region of Odesa, killing two people, Ukrainian and Moldovan officials said, as Moscow targets trade and logistics routes to cause economic damage.

Two civilians were killed and three wounded in the attack on the Starokozache border crossing in southwest Ukraine, Odesa regional governor Oleh Kiper said on Telegram.

The checkpoint, about a kilometre (half a mile) from Moldovan territory, is used daily by thousands of people and hundreds of cars. Moldovan officials said passenger and vehicle traffic was halted by the attack.

Russia has struck five border crossings in recent weeks, the Ukrainian border guards said — four on the border with Moldova and one on its border with Romania, a Nato member.

A flight scheduled to carry Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky from Moldova to Norway was delayed when authorities closed Moldova’s airspace because of a drone incursion, a government spokesperson said Wednesday.

Moldovan police said a Russian drone crashed on Tuesday in a sunflower field on the outskirts of a village in Riscani district, which caused four fires to break out but no injuries.

Moldovan authorities confirmed the drone came down and exploded 160km (100 miles) from Chișinău International Airport. The airspace restrictions were lifted and Zelensky’s plane took off later than scheduled.

Russia's FSB internal security agency said it has detained a former guard at the British Embassy in Moscow who collected personal data on British diplomats, alleging that he had been working for Ukrainian intelligence.

The agency said the data collection was part of preparations for a Ukrainian false-flag operation against British diplomatic staff in Russia, aimed at accusing Russia of hostile actions at a later stage.

The UK government has yet to comment on the developments in Moscow.

Authorities have doused a fire ignited by Ukraine drone strikes on port infrastructure in Russia's Caspian Sea city of Makhachkala in Dagestan, the region's acting head Fyodor Shchukin said.

Both sides have exchanged major strikes on each other in the early hours today.

Russia's defence ministry claims it hit facilities “used for military purposes” in Ukraine's Black Sea port of Chornomorsk, two vessels near Odesa and a drone warehouse in Mykolaiv overnight.

The ministry made the comments on the Telegram messaging app.

The air strikes on Ukraine's port of Mykolaiv hit civilian and industrial infrastructure there on Wednesday and overnight, killing four and injuring 19, acting regional governor Heorhii Reshetilov said.

Donald Trump said 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 war in Ukraine.

“He is wanting to make a deal, and if (Ukrainian president Volodymyr) Zelensky 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 envoy Steve Witkoff and Trump's son-in-law, Jared Kushner, returned from a diplomatic swing through Moscow and Kyiv.

“The holdup is two people who hate each other,” Trump told reporters, referring to Putin and Zelensky.

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

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has issued a message of gratitude to his country's troops who supported Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, state media KCNA said.

Kim referred to the troops during a speech at Pyongyang's assembly hall on Wednesday, amid celebrations marking the 78th anniversary of the country's founding.

He thanks workers and soldiers for their contributions to the state, and extended what KCNA called special gratitude and respect to commanders and soldiers "participating in overseas military operations", likely referring to North Korean troops deployed for Russia's war in Ukraine.

In return for sending troops and munitions to join Russia's war effort, Pyongyang has received economic and military technology assistance from Moscow, according to South Korean intelligence assessments.

North Korea has sent an estimated 14,000 to 15,000 troops to fight alongside Russian forces since late 2024, according to Western and South Korean officials.

Pyongyang was continuing preparations for an additional troop deployment to Russia, but there were no signs that such a deployment was imminent, according to South Korea's defence ministry in late August.