Arson Attack on Volunteers Supporting Ukraine’s Army in Finland

In Finland’s capital, a building that served as the official mailing address of an organization supporting the Armed Forces of Ukraine since 2022 was set on fire.

The newspaper Helsingin Sanomat reports that the premises were a bicycle shop located in a residential apartment building on Pajalahdentie Street in Helsinki.

The arson was carried out on Tuesday night. The commercial premises were also used by the Finnish organization Your Finnish Friends (YFF). It supports the Ukrainian military and Finns who have voluntarily joined the fight against the Russian occupying forces.

The organization lost one laptop and “several letters,” but for the shop that operated in the premises, the arson has had serious consequences.

Jami Huuska, the owner of the bicycle shop, received an alarm alert at 1:16 a.m. and arrived at the scene when the premises were already engulfed in flames.

According to him, the firefighting operation lasted more than three hours. He estimated the damage at approximately half a million euros.

Witnesses reported that shortly before the fire, they saw two people dressed in black behaving suspiciously near the building housing the bicycle shop. They were allegedly filming something shortly before the flames broke out.

Several residents of the building said they were awakened at night by strange sounds resembling breaking glass, and only afterward noticed the fire.

Police detained a 17-year-old suspect at the scene. The teenager is suspected of aggravated vandalism and is currently receiving medical treatment for burns. Authorities are also investigating the possible involvement of accomplices in the crime.

In September, in the Finnish towns of Voikkaa and Koria, located about 80 kilometers from the Russian border, authorities uncovered large stockpiles of weapons and explosives.

Media reports claim that the facility contained over a hundred firearms, over 100,000 rounds of ammunition, fragmentation grenades, anti-tank munitions, and a 75 mm cannon.