Finland Rehearses Russian Attack in Europe's Biggest Drill

Retired Army Colonel Asko Muhonen, who organized the exercise, said Finland's defense rests not only on the military but on the "mindset" of ordinary Finns ready to take responsibility for national security — a habit he tied partly to conscription, which Finland kept after the Soviet collapse. On Moscow's intentions, he said: "don't believe what they say but observe what they do."

Muhonen said Finland has to learn from Ukraine. Kuopio's biggest shelter holds 7,000 people, but Ukrainians often have only minutes to reach a subway station or underground parking lot — meaning people need shelter they can actually get to, not necessarily one that survives a nuclear blast.

"It's our duty to serve and protect this country like people have before us. That's why we have our independence," said Jyry Pietikainen, 23, a conscript trained to run the Kuopio shelter overnight. "We're Finns, so we're kind of pessimistic about life in a way," he added, saying history shows what can happen with Russia.

Untila, the Ukrainian student, said training like this would have helped at home "because nobody knew this could happen."

Räsänen said the biggest threat to the region's energy grid remains heavy snow and storms, but cyberattacks on the network rose significantly after the invasion of Ukraine and the company's decision to stop buying Russian biofuel. Drones have been spotted over power lines, with no one identified as responsible. Of the stickers, he said: "If there was an explosion at that point, it could destroy a whole dam."

The Finnish Security and Intelligence Service pushed back. It said it investigated "a wide range of observations" and found nothing of concern, that heightened vigilance since 2022 has led people to report items such as reflective stickers tied to land survey work, and that drone sightings have "largely been explained by everyday occurrences."

"Small things are happening all the time," including Russian jamming of GPS signals, said Vuokko Lahtinen, 32, in Kuopio. "The best defense of Finland is to make it not worth attacking."

At Kuopio's veterans' museum, Risto Mönkkönen, 95, showed the AP a paper listing the dates the city was bombed and who died: "I cannot forget it." Pirkko Naukkarinen, 102, recalled working in a field kitchen by the front lines at 16, diving for cover as the Soviet air force attacked. Aili Toivanen, 92, said she was forced from her home twice, given an hour to pack each time; when Putin invaded Ukraine in 2022, she said she feared a third.