Finland detects strike on Russian warship in the Gulf of Finland

Finland's military said it detected a strike on a Russian navy vessel in the Baltic Sea, an incident in the Gulf of Finland area that it is monitoring, as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy praised US mediation efforts.

A spokesperson said in an email that Finnish forces "detected a strike on a Russian warship in the Gulf of Finland area," adding that Finland is monitoring the development of the situation and is not under "any immediate military threat." The statement gave no further details on where the strike originated or when it happened, and it was not immediately clear whether there were casualties.

Local media reported that the vessel was a small Russian navy ship that had returned to Saint Petersburg after Wednesday's attack. Ukraine's Security Service said it carried out the strike, according to Finnish broadcaster Yle. Russia said it had intercepted at least 146 Ukrainian drones in the northwestern Leningrad region in recent days. On Wednesday, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania issued warnings to citizens to take shelter because of drones in their airspace, and NATO warplanes were scrambled.

On Thursday, US envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner met Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow before meeting Zelenskyy in Ireland. The shuttle diplomacy followed trilateral negotiations in the United Arab Emirates this week, which produced no major breakthrough beyond an agreement to swap a large number of prisoners. Russia's state-run news agency TASS reported that the exchange should happen in two to three weeks.

Kushner said on X on Thursday that they were "working toward what would be the largest prisoner exchange of the war," potentially reuniting thousands of people with their families.