The war in Ukraine is getting closer, whether Europe wants it or not

I had just woken up, getting ready to go to work in central London. The message I’d received from my childhood friend in Helsinki was unexpected. My first reaction was confusion. Second was worry.

Although the details remain unclear, shrouded in secrecy, that morning in early May, there had been warnings of drones carrying large amounts of explosives heading towards Helsinki.

The entire capital city region was under lockdown for several hours, with people told not to leave their homes. Fighter jets were deployed.

The drones never came.

Several Ukrainian drones have been shot down or crashed in Eastern Finland since the start of the year. But this was the first time the capital region had experienced anything similar.

Whilst Ukraine has seen success in Russian territory, the fallout has been seen across the bordering nations on a wide scale for the first time since the war began.

It’s Lithuanians being forced to shelter, a drone exploding in a Romanian port, and two people being injured because their flat was hit.

War isn’t just explosions, fires, and drones. It’s also the small ways life changes. It’s hoping there are no drone warnings on your flight home; it’s your dad finding himself available for the draft because the upper age limit for the reserves has increased, and it’s the complete disappearance of the Russian tourists who used to traverse the streets of Helsinki, lost in the dust of a life that once was.

Of course, Finland is used to living next to its major neighbour. All the men in my family have been conscripted. I spent my childhood handball practices in “bombis” - the local bomb shelter. In fact, by the age of 15, I had never visited a Starbucks, but had visited plenty of bomb shelters.

Support for Ukraine remains strong. Finns know what it’s like to fight for your freedom. But how long can that last when your own life may be put in danger?

Britain sits in comfort on an island. When the war in Ukraine began, I was skiing in Lapland. That morning, I sat in silence at the kitchen table, eating my cereal, watching then-Prime Minister Sanna Marin deliver a live TV press conference. A veil of grey lowered itself onto the country.

Landing in London a few days later felt like a relief. Life was easier, lighter. Yes, there was a war in Europe. But it was far away, right?

Now the fallout from the war is spreading across borders, whether Europe wants it or not.

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Emilia Jansson is a producer at LBC News. She is originally from Finland.

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