Police report ‘foreign’ drone detected in Finland

Police report ‘foreign’ drone detected in Finland

The drone was spotted on a frozen lake near Finland’s border with Russia, and media reported it was Ukrainian.

Ukraine has struck port facilities on Russia’s coast in the Gulf of Finland several times using drones. (EPA Images pic)
HELSINKI:
Finnish police told AFP today that a “foreign” drone had been spotted on a frozen lake near Finland’s border with Russia and media reported that it was Ukrainian.

The “foreign unmanned aircraft” was detected on the ice of Lake Pyhajarvi in Parikkala in eastern Finland on Tuesday, two days after two stray drones crashed in southern Finland.

“It is currently being investigated whether the aircraft has a warhead”, superintendent Jukka Lankinen said.

Authorities have confirmed that one of the stray drones that crashed Sunday was Ukrainian, but Lankinen could not confirm whether the latest one was of the same origin nor when it entered Finland.

Finnish public broadcaster Yle said it had information that the new drone is Ukrainian and carried a warhead.

Police said that the drone had not caused any injuries or property damage.

Following the weekend crashes, Finnish prime minister Petteri Orpo on Tuesday stressed that there was no direct military threat against Finland, and that the Nordic country had been in contact with Ukraine.

Ukraine apologised to Finland on Monday, explaining that the drones were likely knocked off course by Russian interference.

Kyiv struck port facilities on Russia’s coast in the Gulf of Finland several times last week using drones.

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