Finland refuses to restrict Ukrainian strikes on Russian oil refineries
Police near one of the sites where the drones fell, Finland (Photo: Video screenshot / Yle)
Finland will not demand that Ukraine stop or reduce attacks on the aggressor country Russia's oil sector, Finnish Foreign Minister Elina Valtonen said in an interview with Yle on March 30.
She emphasized that Finland is demanding no such thing, despite recent incidents with Ukrainian drones that fell on the country's south-east.
"But, of course, we must ensure that Finns are not put in danger," she added.
Finland is now developing a UAV defense system. The system could become operational within a few months, Valtonen said.
She noted that "Ukraine has the right to defend itself."
"We are not making any demands on Ukraine regarding what targets it seeks to influence in Russia," Valtonen clarified.
Ukraine has received "signals" from some allies about reducing attacks on the Russian oil sector, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in a comment to journalists on March 30.
"First of all, we don't just strike. I want to remind everyone: we are responding. Why am I reminding you? Recently, after severe global energy crisis, we indeed received signals from some of our partners on how to reduce our responses against the Russian oil and energy sector," he said.
Drone incident in Finland
Several drones violated airspace and crashed in southeastern Finland on March 29.
The drones that flew into the country's territory were likely Ukrainian, Finnish Prime Minister Petteri Orpo confirmed. When asked whether Ukrainian UAVs that accidentally fly into Finland will be shot down in the future, the prime minister replied that there is no general order — this is decided on a case-by-case basis.
Ukraine apologized to Finland for this incident.
The Ukrainian drones that crashed in Finland were not headed for the country, Ukrainian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Heorhii Tykhyi stated. According to him, the drones likely crashed due to the operation of Russian electronic warfare systems.
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