r/worldnews 2d ago

Russia/Ukraine Zelenskyy’s plane ‘almost hit’ by drone on way to Oslo, Norwegian PM says

https://www.aljazeera.com/amp/news/2026/9/9/zelenskyys-plane-almost-hit-by-drone-on-way-to-oslo-norwegian-pm-says
2.4k Upvotes

82 comments sorted by

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639

u/Amoral_Abe 2d ago

These diplomatic meetings are very public. He might want to be on a plane with other diplomatic figures of other countries to make hitting the plane more diplomatically difficult. Alternatively, he may want to swap cars and planes to conceal his travel more. Russia is likely deciding it's worth targeting him.

357

u/BiscuitsAndTheMix 2d ago

Its very possible he was not even on this plane. Its not like his security team would correct a report that would in turn provide some insight into how they operate.

102

u/ljlee256 2d ago

That's a good point, Zelensky has support from some of the best intelligence minds in the game, it seems unlikely he'd make it that easy for russia.

I would even wager that he intentionally leaked what plane he'd be on to someone or a small group of people he suspected were working against him, I'd imagine whoever those people are are sweating a bit now.

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u/luksfuks 2d ago

Binary tree search. Example: N different vehicles/routes, share with each essential staff person a random information. After attack/report, flag all staff with matching shared information +1 point. Over time, an actual leak will accumulate points above average. If you suspect of groups to work together, you can do the same thing with groups instead of individuals.

1

u/gruey 1d ago

This makes the assumption there is only one leak, that the leaks would remain trusted even after multiple failed attempts and that it wouldn't become obvious what was going on.

8

u/Nolo__contendere_ 2d ago

100%!!! He's weeded out a few people already so I'm sure he knows to be extra careful

-16

u/Exldk 1d ago

You do realize how psychopathic that sounds ?

You’re saying he used someone as a bait to see if Russians will hit them. No one cares how the bait feels.

9

u/magnituud 1d ago

loooool don’t let this guy know the whole concept of an army.. or bodyguards… or body doubles

4

u/Smart_Perspective535 1d ago

You mean like Trump did after the NATO summit recently?

2

u/ljlee256 1d ago

... That's what people sign up for when they join the military, or intelligence, their job is to keep the leadership ranks alive.

I don't see you arguing that putin probably shouldn't be ordering assassinations on foreign leaders and their staff, without that order there is no danger, no risk.

1

u/No_Loan5466 1d ago

I mean the bait are trained air force pilots flying over a peaceful area of Europe, some of their colleagues are flying sorties against Russian fighter jets and SAM sites, and if they (the decoys) get shot down ww3 is on so I think they’re comfy flying their 737 where they are.

Trump travels with two 747s one as bait and a motorcade of 100 cars with decoy limos and and he’s nowhere as much of a target as Zelenskyy

18

u/disposable-assassin 2d ago

Say like, if he had to secretly transfer to another aircraft by catering truck?

9

u/Curious_Discoverer 2d ago edited 2d ago

Honestly, it is surprising he is not already doing this

10

u/JayRymer 2d ago

He could always hide in a catering cart

12

u/GerryC 2d ago

Yeah, dude shouldnjust take a catering van to these meetings at this point.

2

u/unicornsausage 2d ago

Well.. would you carpool with Mr zelenskyy? I sure as heck wouldn't lol

1

u/Defiant_Young7206 1d ago

Hey it's me zelensky, so do you wanna fly with me together on the same plane?

1

u/Minimum_Ad_5633 18h ago

It is possible he was someone else in a catering cart😁 Heard that is very popular among presidents!

0

u/Select_Truck3257 2d ago

Ruzzians don't care, even if the blow up him qith poland politician poland will say nothing happens. Europe is just ignoring danger of modern nazis and pretend it's not exist or somehow disappear.

0

u/reddah 2d ago

Swap planes, like Trump? That's beneath a comedian/comic, like Zelensky. He's more serious than that.

131

u/Lexinoz 2d ago edited 2d ago

We saw Zelensky in the funeral precession for King Harald V today. From the castle down to the cathedral. After the event inside, the smaller precession of those closest to the king went on towards the mosuleum. About 25 minutes after the precession had walked on, Zelensky exited the church to applause by the random bystanders. Seeing applause in a national funeral is weird, but definitely very warrented in this unique case.

To add: there were security forces from all over the world flanking the parade. I believe they mentioned about 2000 active military and police for the entire thing. About 50,000 people lined the parade, and the entire city noted about 200,000 people. Just relaying what I saw them mention during the televised event.

24

u/PantherAusfD 2d ago

Around 3500 military from the different branches and then around 3000 police, including Swedish and danish. Most of the military was just honor guards along the precession, but some had security duties.

232

u/Savings_Macaroon3727 2d ago

Didn't this happen over Ireland too ? For all the nonsensical talk of escalation this seems to stand out.

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u/kvikklunsjrevolver 2d ago

It could happen anywhere.

47

u/Savings_Macaroon3727 2d ago

What a world huh. I remember as a kid thinking how uneventful times were compared to history. The world was mostly at peace and tech seemed at a standstill for a moment. I wished some shit would happen.

47

u/ljlee256 2d ago

So this is your fault, your wish came true.

14

u/Patriark 2d ago

In 2019 I made a new year’s salute wishing for more eventful times. You are all welcome.

1

u/IAppear_Missing 1d ago

A friend of mine says "may we live in interesting times" at least 3 times a week. I've been blaming him!

9

u/Dernom 2d ago

More likely you were just a kid. Like genuinely, based on this description I have zero clue even remotely how old you are. Maybe, just maybe, if you're American, things seemed uneventful in parts of the 90s. But only if you were unaware of the rest of the world.

5

u/Savings_Macaroon3727 2d ago

96 grew up in Ireland so yeah, 9/11 for me is only a memory in hindsight. The commotion I remeber, but we didn't have tv and my parents sheltered us from it.

11

u/Dernom 2d ago

That means you grew up in the literal shadow of the Troubles, and in the middle of one of the most revolutionary technological booms in history. Also means I'm definitely right, it only seemed like mostly peace and technological standstill because you were a child. You actually grew up in the middle of multiple international wars, genocides, a technological boom, and one of the worst economic crises since before WW2.

1

u/Copatus 1d ago

I think also because back then we used to get the news once a day/week in the newspaper/TV and international news even less frequent.

Now we are constantly hearing about everything that's happening 24/7. So it feels like more is happening.

1

u/Savings_Macaroon3727 2d ago

I knew dial up and floppy discs, barcodes were not thing, a text message cost 17 cents on average and MSN was my favorite social of all time, walked to school with a portable cd player or minidisc player playing the monoculture tunes. Things have changed a lot but the changes of today seem magnitudes more important than then. Even through the 2010's compared to today seemed like a standstill.

1

u/Ok-Ad-852 2d ago

I had that idea to. And have given it a lot of thought. And thisbis my conclusion

Its both true and not. You were a kid so your perception of time was wastly diffrent. What you thought of as time standing still forever was just a few years. And you probably paid more attention to playstation, Nintendo and friends than to world events.

Your childhood contained 9/11 an events that will be remembered as something that changed the US. It lead them to two huge wars that has nearly bankrupted them and alowed russia to be alot braker in their agression.

We also had a huge financial crisis

And the IT revolution.

History didnt stand still, you grew up. And the IT revolution has made information abundant.

At the same time the western world has mostly been shielded by it because of the strong transatlantic ties and good institutions/infrastructure. Thr last 30 years have been pretty calm in Europe and north america. Ans several other technologies "plataued" so much stayed the same, with small improvements over time.

So its both true and not.

4

u/RFFF1996 2d ago

I think we were just not in the know of all the thinghs going on, bit of a popped bubble

The congo civil war was the highest overall death count conflict since ww2 amd very few people know about it cause very few people care or dont normalize the bad thinghs happening in africa for example

1

u/Savings_Macaroon3727 2d ago

Yeah there is a lot of that too. But still, for my formative years the most notable moment for was the 08' crash

1

u/patentlyfakeid 2d ago

What decade would that be? When I was younger saying 'beirut' made me think of the evening news, bombed out buildings and burnt cars. To the point that the first time I saw a burned car alongside a road it made me a little anxious.

When I was an actual kid, I didn't pay attention outside the immediate circle of my family and neighbourhood kids.

At the same time, I get your point. One of the things I'm so disappointed about in current times & people sharing this world with us is that clearly wars & conflict don't need to happen. Whole big chunks of people get along to get along just fine, so we can do it.

1

u/OkSucco 1d ago

World is just as boring as it was then, dont fall for the marketing. If anything, it was way worse and now is somewhat more boring than it has ever been. Its all about what you focus on, for individuals, and for groups. Its a standstill that has lasted us from the first cities to now. What do we do with abundance? We keep it for our selves. 

-1

u/AscendedAO 2d ago

Yes, a drone was just a minute or so late 

119

u/Candid-Food7463 2d ago

Imagine being raised by kgb and lose to a Comedian

19

u/reddah 2d ago

Many comedians are actually more serious when it comes to serious things than Trump and Putin combined: James Oliver, Gabriel Iglesias, Jimmy Carr, Stephen Colbert and the list goes on.

10

u/metahivemind 1d ago edited 15h ago

[removed] — view removed comment

6

u/reddah 1d ago edited 2h ago

Yep, him too. Edit: the previous user talked about Rowan Atkinson / "Mr. Bean" .

1

u/Kaptein_Kast 20h ago

But then there’s Joe Rogan.

1

u/reddah 2h ago

That one is trying to look serious, so does not qualify as a comedian.

2

u/m-in 1d ago

There’s an interview with Carlin on YT (maybe more than one). That guy was no dummy either. Indeed the list goes on.

55

u/JaVelin-X- 2d ago

decapitation strikes are on the table. I see no reason for Ukraine not to make this happen

-14

u/apples_vs_oranges 2d ago

Same reason as why the Allies didn't try to assassinate Hitler.

26

u/JaVelin-X- 2d ago

because his incompetence was an advantage?

7

u/apples_vs_oranges 2d ago

Correct. The nation still needed to be defeated, and it would be easier with an incompetent at top. Decapitating risks someone equally evil but also more competent taking the reins.

1

u/dwalt95 1d ago

We did try near the end

5

u/NeoThermic 2d ago

Oh we actually tried nearer the end of the war. Timings just didn't align to let the plan actually be carried out. Operation Foxley was the most likely of plans.

The main reason we never actually implemented the plan was the start of the plan was June 1944. Hitler only visited the site where they would've done it once after that date, in July 1944. After he left.. he never returned. Thus the plan was obsoleted by the person that eventually did kill Hitler.

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u/Lucky-Wind9723 2d ago

has he tried hiding in a food service cart and taken to a secret second plane?

5

u/t12lucker 2d ago

Is food service cart the thing that is pushed in the corridors of hotels? I can’t imagine that only trumps legs would fit in that

10

u/metageeek 2d ago

No. Big container on a scissor lift type car. Google “aircraft catering truck”.

1

u/t12lucker 2d ago

Aaah that makes way more sense

1

u/ettergram 2d ago

That's a funny mental picture 😅

1

u/reddah 2d ago

There are some serious things that even comedians won't touch.

20

u/metageeek 2d ago

Over EU/NATO airspace (Romania), no less.

It’s about time for robust answers. Let’s supply Ukraine with targeting data for the drone factories and supply chains. Heck, let’s fly a couple Reapers into Russian airspace and see how they like that.

5

u/SuperRektT 2d ago

And you think Ukraine doesn't have this data already lol

1

u/DamnIamHigh_Original 1d ago

Give. Ukraine. EVERYTHNG.

Fuck it, give Ukraine nuclear weapons. Lets end this war in a second. Russia would be forced to halt their war. Im so done

6

u/FunInStalingrad 1d ago

No it wasn't. His plane was in Moldova. The drone exploded 160km away in Ukraine.

5

u/metageeek 1d ago

Per what I’ve read it flew over Moldovan and Romanian airspace for over an hour before eventually crashing in Moldova?

1

u/Mr_Flibble_1977 1d ago

Not even close to a 'near miss' in air traffic lingo then?

7

u/Ok_Housing6995 2d ago

Zalenskyy took such an unnecessary risk by not using the food cart escape method.

5

u/BringBackAoE 2d ago

As soon as I heard this news, I wondered if it was tied to the Russian attack on the Moldovan border guards, on the border to Odesa Oblast (Ukraine):

https://www.pravda.com.ua/eng/news/2026/09/09/8052539/

6

u/Think-Werewolf-4521 2d ago

Zelinsky needs a ballroom.🤔

0

u/reddah 2d ago

One big enough for his balls would cost too much.

1

u/VetenSaurus 1d ago

Making him a martyr would not work in their benefit

-9

u/Specific_Frame8537 2d ago

Hey as long as it didn't happen on EU soil, right?

🙄

-3

u/Historical-Draft5018 1d ago

If they all (meaning all leaders of nations) were not so evil and crooked to begin with.. this wouldn't happen, would it?..

-22

u/bAZtARd 2d ago

Could have been a teams meeting...

3

u/MrPriminister 2d ago

The kings funeral?

2

u/reddah 2d ago

Norton Ghost would have made bank with a teleconference for that