Finland says it has not demanded Ukraine halt attacks on Russia over drone incidents
Finnish Foreign Minister Elina Valtonen has stated that her country has not asked Ukraine to suspend or reduce attacks on Russian targets, despite incidents involving "stray" drones.
Source: European Pravda, citing Valtonen in an interview with Finnish public service media company Yle
Details: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said earlier on Monday that some countries had "signalled" to Ukraine a desire to see long-range attacks on Russia's oil sector scaled back.
Valtonen stressed that Finland has made no demands regarding Ukraine's operations against Russia, noting that Ukraine is conducting a defensive war.
"Ukraine is allowed to defend itself. We are not setting any requirements on which targets Ukraine seeks to influence in Russia," the minister said.
She added that residents of Finland should not be put at risk. For this reason, Finland is currently developing a drone defence system, which Valtonen expects could be operational within a few months.
Background:
- On 29 March, several drones entered Finnish airspace and fell in the south-eastern part of the country. One was identified as a Ukrainian An-196 Lyutyi drone.
- Finnish Prime Minister Petteri Orpo said the drones that fell on Finnish territory are probably Ukrainian, as Ukraine had been attacking Russian facilities in Leningrad Oblast, which borders Finland.
- It was announced later that the Finnish parliament's Defence Committee will hold an extraordinary meeting on 31 March to discuss current defence issues, including the drone incidents. Finland's president also issued a public statement on drones that had strayed into Finnish territory.
- Ukraine's Foreign Ministry said it had apologised to the Finnish side over the incident.
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