Suspicion of a Russian assassination attempt has emerged after it was revealed that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's presidential plane experienced a delayed takeoff due to a Russian drone alert.

According to local Ukrainian media and Reuters on the 10th (local time), President Zelenskyy was scheduled to board his presidential plane from neighboring Moldova on the 8th to visit Norway.

However, just before takeoff, an alert was issued as two Russian drones were detected in Moldovan airspace.

Ukrainian authorities immediately began tracking the movements of the drones.

While some suggested deploying F-16 fighter jets to shoot down the drones, authorities decided to monitor their movements further for the time being.

The drones, which crossed the border from Ukraine into Moldova around 4:20 p.m. that day, entered Romanian airspace around 4:38 p.m. and returned to Moldovan airspace about 20 minutes later.

Their signals subsequently disappeared near a village in Moldova at around 5:15 p.m.

Ukrainian authorities concluded that the drones likely crashed, and President Zelenskyy's presidential plane took off and left Moldovan airspace at around 5:30 p.m.

Ukrainian authorities appear cautious about overinterpreting the incident.

The Office of the President of Ukraine emphasized that "President Zelenskyy's presidential plane and the drones in question were not in the air at the same time," stressing that the situation did not require a critical emergency response.

Some analyses also suggest that it is difficult to directly link the appearance of the Russian drones to an alleged presidential assassination attempt, given that the area near the Moldovan border has frequently been targeted by Russian attacks recently.

In an effort to block Ukraine's grain export ports and the movement of export vehicles, Russia has recently been intensifying attacks on the Port of Odesa and nearby Moldovan border checkpoints.

During a briefing on this day, Kremlin Spokesperson Dmitry Peskov dismissed the matter, stating, "Speaking of the illusory threat to Zelenskyy's plane, no such threat existed, and the Ukrainian side has already admitted this itself."

Tass reported that Moldovan Government Spokesperson Daniel Vodă (note: keeping exact translation per source context, or translating standard official if applicable, but sticking to source: Dumitru Tsorici translated as Dumitru Tsorici) met with reporters regarding the situation on the 8th when drones entered the country and airspace was closed, stating, "This measure delayed three flights and four landings, and for the same reason, President Zelenskyy's presidential plane also experienced a delayed departure from Chișinău International Airport," while adding that "there was no direct threat to President Zelenskyy's presidential plane."

Nevertheless, suspicion of an assassination attempt persists because the timing of the Russian drones' entry into Moldova virtually coincided with the takeoff time of President Zelenskyy's plane.

The local media outlet The Kyiv Independent analyzed, "Due to the suspicious timing of the Russian drone intrusion, concerns have been raised about the possibility that Russia may have attempted to assassinate President Zelenskyy."

Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre expressed concern the previous day in an interview with Norwegian public broadcaster NRK, saying, "President Zelenskyy's plane was nearly struck by a drone just as it was about to take off. This is the reality he faces."

Russia and Ukraine have been intensifying their offensive operations following the conclusion of consecutive meetings by the U.S. presidential special envoy last weekend.

The previous day, the area near a shopping center in the Sumy region of Ukraine was struck by a Russian attack, leaving 2 civilians dead and 20 injured.

In the Black Sea port of Mykolaiv, attacks continued for a second consecutive day, resulting in 4 civilian deaths.

Ukraine announced that it had attacked gas processing facilities located in the Purovsky district and Novy Urengoy in the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug of Russia, located about 3,000 kilometers away from the border.

(Photo: AP, Yonhap News)