Finland reopens airspace after localised early morning shutdown
Authorities in Latvia announced early on Friday morning that Nato fighter jets had shot down a drone in the country's airspace.
On Friday morning, the Finnish Defence Forces (FDF) temporarily restricted aviation and maritime traffic in the eastern Gulf of Finland due to heightened concerns about potential drone incursions. The restriction began around 4am and was lifted shortly after 8am, as stated by the FDF on social media platform X.
The decision came amidst a series of drone attacks launched by Ukraine on Russia's St. Petersburg region overnight, causing a fire at the Ust-Luga oil port on the Baltic Sea. In response, NATO fighter jets reportedly shot down a drone that had entered Latvian airspace.
The FDF's precautionary measure was not an isolated incident; earlier this month, similar restrictions were put in place in parts of Finland due to heightened concerns about drones from the war straying into Finnish territory. The most significant incident occurred on May 15, when residents in the Uusimaa area were advised to stay indoors in the early hours of the morning, as 1.8 million people live in this densely populated region.
According to a report by The Telegraph, Russia has allegedly been hijacking Ukrainian drones mid-air and redirecting them towards the airspace of NATO member states, including Finland. Security expert Keir Giles discussed the threat posed by stray drones in an episode of the Yle All Points North podcast, which can be found on Yle Areena, Apple, Spotify, or other podcast platforms.
Written by urgent.news from Yle News Finland's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
