Finland warns of drone scare near Helsinki, fighter jets scrambled, flights diverted

The early hours warning – the first for the capital city – said a drone could be heading towards an area on the south coast

Finland warned the public of drones possibly entering its airspace, for the first time near the capital city Helsinki, in the early hours of Friday.

Flights were disrupted at the country’s biggest airport, Helsinki-Vantaa, and about 1.8 million residents of southern Finland were told to remain indoors after overnight Ukrainian strikes on Russia near Finland prompted concern that unmanned aircraft had strayed into the country.

The emergency warning was issued at 3.49am local time and authorities said a drone was expected to be heading towards an area between Helsinki and Porvoo, home to assets including Neste Oyj’s oil refinery on the south coast.

The alert was lifted at 7.06am.

The Russian Ministry of Defence reported that 355 Ukrainian drones were shot down. The northernmost region mentioned in the drone report was the city of Pskov, which borders Estonia and Latvia but not Finland.

Finland and the nearby Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia ⁠and Lithuania have seen a string of recent incidents where Ukrainian drones aimed at Russia have strayed ‌into their airspace, but it was not immediately known if Friday’s incident was similar.