Lieutenant General Pasi Välimäki, Commander of the Finnish Army, made a working visit to Ukraine on 20–25 September. He met front-line commanders, the leadership of the Ukrainian Ground Forces and Ukraine's Unmanned Systems Command.
— It has been important for me to visit Ukrainian front-line commanders and discuss the changes on the battlefield, the success factors and the challenges, so that our own work fits the ongoing change, Välimäki told the Finnish Army.
He met the commander of the 3rd Army Corps and was briefed on the structure and situation of OP VIVALDI. Välimäki said they discussed troop training and how to create the conditions for using mechanised forces successfully.
He also visited the 233rd Training Centre. Välimäki said working with the centre had helped the Finnish Army start training on armed drones and develop its tactical combat course.
At the Unmanned Systems Command, talks covered layered counter-drone defence and the new bilateral drone deal, previously reported by NDS. Presidents Alexander Stubb and Volodymyr Zelenskyy signed the agreement in New York on 23 September. It covers technology transfer and joint drone development and production.
Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Major General Mykhailo Drapatyi, awarded Välimäki the Order of Merit, 2nd class.