Petteri Orpo has linked the aerial incursion to Kiev’s latest UAV attacks on oil facilities in Russia’s north-western Leningrad Region
Two suspected Ukrainian drones have crashed in Finland, Prime Minister Petteri Orpo has reported, conjecturing that the UAVs were launched as part of Kiev’s latest attacks on neighboring Russia’s Leningrad Region.
In a post on X on Sunday, Orpo wrote that the “drones have strayed into Finnish territory,” and that the incident was being investigated by local authorities and the Defense Forces.
The Finnish prime minister characterized the “territorial violation as a very serious matter,” as quoted by Yle News.
Meanwhile, the country’s Air Force identified one of the UAVs as a Ukrainian AN196 drone.
There have been no reports of casualties on the ground as a result of the incident.
According to the Nordic country’s Defense Ministry, “several small, slow-flying, low-flying objects were observed in Finnish airspace over the sea and in southeastern Finland on Sunday morning.”
F/A-18 Hornet fighter jets were deployed to monitor the drones, but did not use suppressive fire so as to avoid collateral damage, according to Yle News.
The Defense Ministry stated that the UAVs eventually crashed near the city of Kouvola, roughly 100 kilometers (62 miles) west of the Russian border.
Since early March, the Defense Ministry in Moscow has reported that its air defenses have shot down hundreds of Ukrainian drones in Russian airspace on an almost daily basis. The Kremlin has characterized the UAV incursions as “terrorist attacks.”
On Wednesday, an unusually large number of drones were downed over Leningrad Region, with the raid resulting in a blaze in the port area of Ust-Luga, which is home to a major gas-processing complex as well as Europe’s largest oil terminal specializing in the transshipment of petroleum products from rail to sea tankers.
There were no injuries among civilians in the region, according to the authorities.
Meanwhile, also on Wednesday, a Ukrainian UAV hit the chimney of the Auvere Power Plant in northeastern Estonia, Estonian Prime Minister Kristen Michal reported.
At around the same time, another Ukrainian drone impacted neighboring Latvia, the country’s Defense Ministry stated.
Lithuanian Prime Minister Inga Ruginiene had said early in the week that a UAV launched from Ukraine went astray and crashed in the south of the Baltic nation on Monday. According to the Baltic nation’s Defense Minister Robertas Kaunas, the drone went undetected by NATO radar because it was “flying at an altitude of less than 300 meters.”
Last September, after more than a dozen drones were reported crossing into Poland, Russia accused Ukraine of deliberately sending UAVs into NATO territory as part of a false flag attack, apparently with a view to pitting the Western military bloc directly against Russia.
