Helsingin Sanomat said the drones were mistakenly directed toward Finland and that Ukrainian authorities themselves alerted Finnish officials about the incident. That night, Finnish authorities issued a public safety warning after receiving information from Ukraine about a possible threat.
The paper said drones are programmed with target coordinates and intermediate waypoints, and an error at that programming stage may have caused the deviation.
Helsingin Sanomat reported that the drones ultimately did not enter Finnish airspace, but the exact reason remains unclear. One possibility is that they were shot down by Russian air defenses.
On May 15, residents of Uusimaa were urged to stay indoors and away from windows; authorities later said the threat had passed. Helsinki-Vantaa Airport temporarily suspended operations, and some flights were canceled or diverted because of the airspace closure.
Finland’s president, Alexander Stubb, said there was no
direct military threat to the country.