Finland Warns Drone Activity to Continue After Breaches

(Bloomberg) -- Finnish officials warned that drone activity is likely to continue in the Nordic country’s vicinity after two aerial vehicles entered its airspace before crashing on Sunday morning.

“These are individual Ukrainian drones that have strayed into our territory,” Air Force Commander Timo Herranen said at a news conference. Prime Minister Petteri Orpo had earlier signaled the same in an interview with the public broadcaster YLE.

It’s the first known instance of drones veering into Finnish airspace since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine four years ago.

“Russia conducts strong electronic interference, which may explain why these drones also stray into Finland,” Orpo said Sunday, adding that Finland did not shoot them down.

The drones came down near the small town of Kouvola in southeastern Finland, close to a key military base. The town is about 70 kilometers (43 miles) from the Russian border.

For more than a week, Ukraine has launched attacks on Russian oil ports on the Baltic Sea, including Primorsk near Finland. On Sunday, the Ust-Luga terminal sustained damage from the Ukrainian drone attack. 

Last weekend, more than a hundred drones were detected near Finland’s territory, some as close as 8 kilometers from the border, the Air Force commander told reporters, adding that the military remains on heightened alert. 

Finland is the latest European nation to see stray drones fly in. Recently, a Ukrainian drone accidentally hit the chimney of a power plant in Estonia and others crashed in Latvia and Lithuania. 

The drones that entered Finnish territory fell in sparsely populated areas and caused no injuries or significant property damage, according to the police. 

One drone that crashed north of Kouvola was followed throughout its time in Finnish airspace by an F/A-18 Hornet fighter jet and identified as a Ukrainian AN-196. The other, which fell east of the town, was tracked only by radar and remains unidentified.

The National Bureau of Investigation is examining the drones to determine whether they carried explosives and why they crashed in Finland.

A third drone that landed earlier in Espoo was later found to have been in civilian use, police said adding it posed no danger.

President Alexander Stubb underlined there’s no military threat to Finland and that authorities are prepared for any future incidents, in a statement. 

“Finland stands ready to monitor and protect its territory,” he said.

(Updates with damage to Russia’s Ust-Luga in sixth paragraph)

More stories like this are available on bloomberg.com

©2026 Bloomberg L.P.