The Finnish Defence Forces and police detonated an unexploded warhead found in a remote area of Iitti on Saturday.
The device had detached from a suspected Ukrainian drone discovered nearby. Prime Minister Petteri Orpo (NCP) told Yle on Sunday that authorities had previously searched for a drone in the area where the devices were found. The items fell in the Perheniemi area of the Päijät-Häme municipality of Iitti, which borders on Kouvola. The nearest settlement is about a kilometre away. Officials said that the explosive device was detonated in a controlled manner after 8 pm.
Read more…
Source: Yle News
Sign up for the Counter-IED Report Newsletters
The latest news and insights delivered right to your inbox
Related:
- Finland: Controlled explosion carried out on drone warhead in municipality of Iitti
April 12, 2026
The Finnish Defence Forces and police detonated an unexploded warhead found in a remote area of Iitti on Saturday. The device had detached from a suspected Ukrainian drone discovered nearby. Prime Minister Petteri Orpo (NCP) told Yle on Sunday that authorities had previously searched for a drone in the area where the devices were found. The ...
- Finland: Expert suggests stray drone exploded on impact
March 30, 2026
One of the two drones that strayed into eastern Finland on Sunday morning likely exploded on impact, according to former Finnish Defence Forces research chief Jyri Kosola. Finnish authorities have not confirmed this theory. Kosola, who is also a retired military officer and non-fiction author, said he based his hypothesis on his own personal knowledge and ...
- Anti-personnel mines are back in Europe
February 27, 2026
To mark Poland’s official withdrawal from the Ottawa Convention or the Anti-Personnel Mine Ban Treaty, Julia Głębocka, Human rights researcher for Amnesty International Poland, reflects on what the return of these indiscriminate weapons means for human rights in Europe. Not so long ago, in 2020, the European Union was funding mine relief efforts in Lebanon and ...
- Baltic Sea: CTF 68 Builds Maritime Advantage with NATO Allies During Exercise Freezing Winds 2025
January 23, 2026
U.S. Navy expeditionary forces assigned to Commander, Naval Expeditionary Combat Forces Europe-Africa/Commander, Task Force 68 (CTF 68) recently concluded operations in support of Exercise Freezing Winds 2025, a Finnish-led multinational training event designed to bolster collective readiness, interoperability, and security across the North Baltic Sea. A key focus during Freezing Winds was improving freedom of movement ...
- Finland’s withdrawal from Ottawa Convention to take effect
January 10, 2026
Finland’s withdrawal from the Ottawa Anti-Personnel Landmines Convention will take effect on 10 January. Finland remains committed to the humanitarian objectives of the Ottawa Convention. Finland’s decision to withdraw from the Ottawa Convention was based on an assessment of Finland’s defence needs in the deteriorated security environment. Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine has profoundly changed ...
- Landmine casualties hit four-year high as treaty setbacks deepen
December 1, 2025
Civilian deaths and injuries from landmines and explosive remnants of war have risen to their highest level in four years, according to the Landmine Monitor 2025 report launched in Geneva on Monday. It documents 6,279 casualties in 2024. Children remain especially vulnerable, particularly in conflict-affected countries where displaced families are returning to heavily contaminated areas. “Civilians ...
- Clearing the Mines 2025 – Report Reveals Worst-Ever Violations of the Mine Ban Convention and Urges Action by States Parties
November 17, 2025
Mine Action Review today published Clearing the Mines 2025, its annual global assessment of anti-personnel (AP) mine contamination, survey, and clearance, ahead of the TwentySecond Meeting of States Parties to the Anti-Personnel Mine Ban Convention (APMBC), taking place in Geneva on 1–5 December. The report warns that the APMBC is facing the most serious challenges in ...
- Ukraine: Northern Europe and Baltic states allocate $500 million to PURL program
November 14, 2025
Ukraine, together with its international partners, is working to expand funding for the PURL program, which allows for the purchase of American weapons, including air defense systems and missiles for them. This was announced by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in an evening video address on Telegram, according to Ukrinform. “Missiles for the Patriot system are particularly ...
- Rescue Borealis exercise boosted Europe’s preparedness for security threats
October 3, 2025
The heightened security situation highlights the need for preparedness in both the Baltic Sea and Euro-Arctic regions. This was the key message from the international Rescue Borealis 2025 field exercise held in Oulu this week. EU Commissioner responsible for preparedness, Hadja Lahbib, personally observed the exercise in Oulu and praised both the seamless cooperation among participants ...
- European countries are now turning to landmines to create new deadly defensive barriers from Russia
October 3, 2025
Five Nato countries neighbouring Russia or its ally, Belarus, have announced that they are to opt out of the Ottawa treaty of 1997. This treaty bans the use by signatories of anti-personnel (AP) landmines. These states – Poland, Finland, Lithuania, Estonia and Latvia – now have plans to create a 2,000-mile stretch of mined areas as ...
- Finnish Defence Forces request for participation application – EOD/IEDD, CBRN robots
August 26, 2025
The Finnish Defence Forces asks requests for participation requests related to the procurement of robots. The purpose of this procurement is to equip a part of Finnish Defence Forces EOD- and IEDD-teams with two different size robots. Robots will be used in various tasks of disposal explosives and in CBRN-missions. Requirements of the robots are based ...
- Finland and Lithuania set to produce anti-personnel mines
July 9, 2025
Lithuania and Finland look set to start domestic production of anti-personnel landmines next year to supply themselves and Ukraine because of what they see as the military threat from Russia, officials from the two NATO member states told Reuters. The two countries, which border Russia, have announced their intention to pull out of the Ottawa Convention ...
- Ukraine on track to withdraw from Ottawa anti-personnel mines treaty
June 29, 2025
President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Sunday he had signed a decree to pull Ukraine out of the Ottawa Convention banning the production and use of anti-personnel mines as a necessary step in view of Russian tactics in their 40-month-old war. Ukraine ratified the convention in 2005. Other countries bordering Russia, notably Finland, Poland and the three ...
- Finland exits landmine ban treaty amid defence shift
June 19, 2025
The Finnish Parliament has approved the government’s proposal to withdraw from the Ottawa Treaty, reversing the country’s long-standing commitment to banning anti-personnel landmines. The decision passed with 157 votes in favour and 18 against, with no abstentions and 24 members absent. The move, announced in April, allows the Finnish Defence Forces to reintroduce landmines as part ...
- UN: Guterres to launch life-saving campaign strengthening mine action worldwide
June 16, 2025
The UN Secretary-General is set to launch a global campaign to boost support for disarmament and mine action. António Guterres announced the move in a statement issued on Monday, in response to plans by several UN Member States to withdraw from the Anti-Personnel Mine Ban Convention. The 1997 treaty, also known as the Ottawa Convention, prohibits the ...