Finland intensifies air surveillance, conducts drone search

Finnish Defence Forces and police conducted search for a drone in South Karelia region early Sunday night while Finnish Air Forces strengthened air surveillance over Southeastern Finland and Pirkanmaa regions on Sunday morning, reported national broadcaster Yle, quoting Defence Forces sources.

The authority, however, did make official statements or disclose detail about the incidents.

The Defence Forces in cooperation with police conducted extensive search for a drone at Kuukanniemi area in Lemi, a municipality under South Karelia region responding to an alarm from local people, said Yle in a report.

The search started at about 1:30 a.m. and conducted for about one hour when a helicopter was flying in a low altitude over the land.

The authorities, however, did not say anything more about the search.

Meanwhile, the Finnish Air Forces conducted intensified surveillance with F/A-18 Hornet fighter jets over the Southeastern Finland and Pirkanmaa regions on Sunday morning, said Yle in another report.

The broadcaster confirmed the incident of intensified surveillance by the Finnish Defence Forces.

Earlier, on Sunday morning, Latvian authority issued a public warning about a possible drone in Latvian airspace and later confirmed that the drone had entered and exited its airspace, the report added.

On May 15, 2026, Finnish authorities issued an emergency warning about a potential drone sighting in Uusimaa region.

Earlier two drones that were suspected of violating Finnish airspace over Eastern Finland on May 3 were most likely Ukrainian origin, said Finnish Coast Guard.

Two drones were suspected of violating Finnish airspace in Hamina, a municipality in Eastern Finland on May 3.

Earlier on April 11, 2026, one drone was suspected territorial violation after it was found at Iitti, a municipality in Southern Finland.

Two drones crashed in Kouvola in southeastern Finland after entering into Finnish airspace in the morning on March 29.

One more Ukrainian drone was found in Finland on March 31, 2026.

The Ukrainian authorities apologised to Finland for the drones’ crashes.

The National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) said that the authorities do not completely exclude the possibility that, in addition to the unmanned aerial vehicles already found in Finland, several other such aircraft might have ended up in the country.

The Finnish Defence Forces intensified surveillance measures to ensure territorial integrity when Ukraine carried out attacks against Russian targets in the eastern Gulf of Finland.