Fourth Ukrainian Drone Found in Finland as Iitti Discovery Widens Straying Pattern

A fourth armed drone has been found on Finnish soil in less than two weeks, this time in a forest in the Perheniemi area of Iitti, roughly 140 kilometres northeast of Helsinki, according to the Helsinki Times. A member of the public reported the unmanned aircraft on Saturday afternoon, April 11. The device carried an unexploded warhead and was destroyed in a controlled detonation later that evening, around 20:00 local time. No injuries or property damage were reported. The National Bureau of Investigation says the drone shares size, shape, and color characteristics with three earlier finds in southeastern Finland and is being examined as part of the same series of incidents.

NBI Links Iitti Find to Earlier Southeastern Finland Incidents

Detective Inspector Sami Liimatainen of the National Bureau of Investigation confirmed the connection while stopping short of declaring a definitive origin. Investigators are assessing whether all four drones entered Finnish territory during a single event or across separate missions. The site in Iitti lies nearly one kilometre from the nearest residential buildings. Officers from Häme Police, the Finnish Defence Forces, and the Border Guard secured the area and began technical examinations before the controlled detonation.

The Border Guard is treating the case as a suspected territorial violation. The NBI has opened a parallel investigation for aggravated endangerment because the device carried explosives. Lieutenant Jyri Siitari of the Gulf of Finland Coast Guard said his unit is analyzing the drone’s origin, purpose, and flight conditions as part of the broader picture. The area remained sealed on Sunday as officers collected evidence and interviewed witnesses.

The AN-196 Liutyi and Finland’s Growing Warhead Problem

The Finnish Air Force confirmed after the March 29 Kouvola incident that at least one of the drones was a Ukrainian AN-196 Liutyi, a one-way attack drone developed by Ukroboronprom in late 2022 as Kyiv’s domestic answer to Russia’s Iranian-supplied Shahed-136. The Liutyi has a wingspan of nearly seven metres, weighs up to 300 kilograms, and can carry a warhead of up to 75 kilograms. Its operational range exceeds 1,000 kilometres, using satellite navigation, inertial guidance, and terrain-matching to fly autonomously toward a target.

As DroneXL reported following the Kouvola find, three similar devices came down in southeastern Finland during the March 29 incident, in Kouvola and Luumäki. A third turned up days later near Parikkala, close to the Russian border. Ukraine subsequently apologized to Helsinki and attributed the straying to Russian electronic jamming disrupting the drones’ navigation systems during strikes on oil export infrastructure along the Gulf of Finland. Finland’s Foreign Minister and Prime Minister both called the territorial violations serious but declined to ask Ukraine to halt the campaign.

Iitti extends that pattern further northwest than any of the previous finds. Kouvola sits roughly 22 kilometres to the southeast. The fact that the Iitti drone still carried an intact warhead when found (as the Kouvola device did) confirms these are not spent or post-detonation hulks. They are fully armed munitions landing in Finnish forest.

Public Reports, Authorities Respond

Commissioner Tero Veijonmaa of Häme Police noted that the individual who spotted the drone acted correctly: keeping distance, not touching the device, and calling emergency services via 112. Authorities have repeated that warning for the public across all four incidents. Liimatainen told reporters that the scale of drone use in the Ukraine war makes additional incidents beyond Finland’s borders increasingly probable. Small roads and forest paths near the Iitti site remained closed Sunday while evidence collection continued.

DroneXL’s Take

Four drones in under two weeks, three of them with live warheads. That’s not a pattern anymore. It’s a recurring operational condition NATO members on Russia’s border now have to plan around.

What strikes me about this series is how little the underlying dynamic has changed since the Kouvola incident. Ukraine is targeting Russian oil infrastructure along the Gulf of Finland. Russia is deploying heavy electronic warfare along that corridor to jam navigation. Some drones lose their fix and fly on autonomously until they run out of fuel or altitude. Finland ends up with the warhead. The cause is well understood. The solution, better navigation redundancy or a temporary corridor adjustment, apparently isn’t in place yet.

The Iitti find is roughly 140 kilometres from Helsinki. That’s not the wilderness. The Finnish-Russian border is 1,340 kilometres long. If drones are now reaching Iitti, the geographic spread is widening, not stabilizing. Ukraine will face real pressure from Helsinki to show technical fixes before the next one lands closer to a populated area. Expect an official Ukrainian navigation review and a public commitment to route adjustments within the next 30 days. The diplomatic math no longer allows a second apology without one.

DroneXL uses automated tools to support research and source retrieval. All reporting and editorial perspectives are by Haye Kesteloo.