Finland has staged the largest civil defence exercise seen in Europe since the Second World War, involving more than 2,000 volunteers, students and conscripts in the city of Kuopio. The drill simulated cyberattacks disrupting power and water supplies alongside the threat of missile strikes from Russia, testing how authorities and ordinary citizens would respond to a real attack. The exercise reflects growing concern in Finland, which shares an 830-mile border with Russia and joined NATO in 2024 after Vladimir Putin's invasion of Ukraine, about both military threats and covert sabotage campaigns Western officials attribute to Moscow.

Participants practised sheltering in a rock-hewn bunker designed to withstand nuclear, biological and chemical attacks, with the largest shelter able to hold 7,000 people, while others slept overnight on trestle beds in a converted sports hall. Organisers said lessons were being drawn from Ukraine, where residents often have only minutes to reach safety, and from local energy firm Savon Voima, whose chief executive reported a sharp rise in cyberattacks and the discovery of at least ten suspicious stickers placed on vulnerable points of the power network, alongside drone sightings near power lines. A retired army colonel involved in organising the exercise said Finland's defence rests not only on its military and conscription system but on the readiness of ordinary citizens to take responsibility for national security.