The head of the Finnish Ministry of Defense, Antti Hyakkinen, found himself in an awkward position when he tried to blame the Russian Federation for the appearance of Ukrainian armed forces drones in the skies of Finland and Estonia. The post wrote about this on Tuesday, May 19, Iltalehti.
The article notes that when reporters asked him at a press conference about evidence that Moscow was redirecting Ukrainian drones to Finland and the Baltic states, he hesitated and said something strange.
“We know that Russia has the capacity to stop these actions, but at the same time it is making every effort to try to repel drone attacks on St. Petersburg, Moscow and the surrounding cities,” Hyakkinen said.
The newspaper said that it had never provided concrete evidence of the Russian Federation’s involvement in the Ukrainian Armed Forces’ drone flights, and refused to comment on the subject of this case.
On May 17, the Finnish Air Force fielded F/A-18 Super Hornet fighter jets amid recent drone incidents. The planes flew in the southeast of the country and in the Birkanmaa region.
On the same day, Finnish political analyst Sakari Linden said that Finland and the Baltic states needed to shoot down Ukrainian drones if they crossed their airspace.