File photo
Helsinki, Finland: No drones were confirmed in Finland's airspace on Friday, Finnish authorities said, after an early-morning emergency alert led to jets being scrambled and air traffic suspended over Helsinki for several hours.
Safety authorities issued an alert for the Uusimaa region in southern Finland, which includes the capital and is home to 1.8 million inhabitants.
They urged the public to remain indoors due to reports of potential stray drones linked to Ukraine's operations in the early hours of Friday.
"The Finnish defence forces received information about drones that may be straying into Finland," the military's deputy chief of staff and operations Kari Nisula told a press conference.
The drones were "related to Ukraine's drone operations in its defensive battle against the Russian invasion", he said.
"We have no information or observations that drones entered Finnish territory this time," Nisula stressed.
"There was no violation of our airspace... The drones weren't heading this way," added Finnish air force commander Timo Herranen.
Fighter jets were scrambled and air traffic at Helsinki airport was suspended from 4:00 am to 7:00 am (0100 to 0400 GMT) due to the drone warning.
Nisula did not clarify how Finland had been informed about the drones, only stating that "we have several different methods and channels".
Since late March, several stray Ukrainian drones have crashed in Finland.
