Finland detects strike on Russian warship as Zelenskyy meets US envoys

Reports of alleged incident follow US envoys’ meetings with the Russian and Ukrainian president.Finland’s military says its forces have detected a rare strike on a Russian navy vessel in the Baltic Sea as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy praised mediation efforts led by US envoys Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff.A spokesperson for the Nordic country’s military said in an email to the Reuters news agency that its forces “detected … a strike on a Russian warship in the Gulf of Finland area and has monitored the development of the situation”, adding that Finland is not under “any immediate military threat”.Recommended Stories list of 3 itemslist 1 of 3US envoys and Putin agree to continue Russia-Ukraine peace talkslist 2 of 3Europe views US with ‘much less horror’ after Trump’s midterms defeatlist 3 of 3Regional security dominates European talks in Dublin amid hybrid attacksend of listThe statement did not provide further details on where the strike originated, the location or timing of the incident, or how it was detected.Reuters said it was not immediately clear if there were any casualties or what had caused Wednesday’s strike.Estonia shares a narrow arm of the Baltic Sea with Finland. Local media reported that the vessel was a small Russian navy ship which had returned to Saint Petersburg after the alleged attack.Ukraine’s Security Service has said it carried out the attack, according to Finnish broadcaster Yle. In recent days, Russia said it had intercepted at least 146 Ukrainian drones in the northwestern Leningrad region.On Wednesday, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania had issued warnings to citizens to take shelter due to drones in their airspace, and NATO warplanes were scrambled in response.Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and US envoys Jared Kushner, left, and Steve Witkoff, right, address members of the media after their meeting at Casement Aerodrome in Baldonnel, west of Dublin, on Thursday [Paul Faith/AFP]Shuttle diplomacyOn Thursday, US envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner met Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow before meeting Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Ireland.The US shuttle diplomacy followed trilateral negotiations in the United Arab Emirates this week, which produced no major breakthrough, aside from an agreement to swap a large number of prisoners.Russia’s state-run news agency TASS reported that the prisoner exchange should happen in two to three weeks. If finalised, it would be the latest in a long line of such exchanges.“We are also working toward what would be the largest prisoner exchange of the war, potentially reuniting thousands of people with their families,” Kushner said on X on Thursday, following his meetings.