Finland’s civil defence exercise in Kuopio brought more than 2,000 people underground on 2 September, testing how authorities and civilians would respond to cyberattacks, failures in critical infrastructure and an increased threat of missile strikes. Participants spent around two hours inside Luola, a sports and events centre designed to be converted into a shelter for as many as 7,000 people during an emergency.
The exercise, called Suojaan 2026, continued into the following morning, with more than 100 people remaining underground overnight to practise the operation and maintenance of a civil defence shelter. It was the first time Luola had been fully tested for the secondary purpose for which it was designed.
Finland’s civil defence exercise simulated attacks on infrastructure
The scenario assumed that cyberattacks had disrupted electricity and water supplies in Kuopio, while the risk of missile strikes was increasing. The North Savo Rescue Department and the City of Kuopio led the exercise together with educational institutions, authorities, voluntary organisations and companies.
Students from Savonia University of Applied Sciences, Savo Vocational College and Luovi Vocational College were told at around 11:30 to move to their nearest civil defence shelter. They had approximately half an hour to reach Luola.
Once the participants were inside, the shelter doors were closed and the main sports hall was divided into smaller areas, each accommodating around 200 people. The exercise also tested some of the practical limitations that would emerge during a prolonged emergency. There were 60 dry toilets for more than 2,000 participants, while the number of beds was insufficient for everyone to rest at the same time.
Antti Haataja, preparedness manager at the North Savo Rescue Department and deputy director of the exercise, said the evacuation had proceeded more smoothly than expected.
“It was calm, and there was no sign of fear among the people. It worked really well,” Haataja told Yle.
In a real emergency, the people taking shelter would also be divided into working groups and assigned tasks such as maintaining the facilities and emptying the dry toilets.
Luola is designed for both everyday life and emergencies
Completed around two years ago, Luola is a dual-use underground facility in Kuopio’s Savilahti district. In normal conditions it operates as a sports and events centre with capacity for around 2,500 people. During an emergency, it can be converted into temporary protected accommodation for approximately 7,000.
The concept reflects a long-established feature of Finnish civil defence: facilities built for emergencies are often integrated into infrastructure used every day.
Finland has around 50,500 civil defence shelters with space for approximately 4.8 million people, according to the Ministry of the Interior. The shelters are particularly concentrated in urban areas and can include underground sports facilities, car parks and spaces inside residential or commercial buildings.
Finnish law also requires shelters to be capable of being prepared for use within 72 hours. New guidance published by the Ministry of the Interior in January 2026 was intended to improve planning, maintenance and practical knowledge about activating them during an emergency.
The scale of the Kuopio exercise attracted international attention
Yle and international reports based on Associated Press coverage described the Kuopio drill as Europe’s largest civil defence exercise since the end of the Second World War.
That description should be treated as an attributed claim rather than an independently established record. The City of Kuopio used narrower language before the event, describing Suojaan 2026 as the largest exercise of its kind held in Finland for decades. No independent European register comparing civil defence exercises across the post-war period has been identified.
The exercise nevertheless attracted journalists and security observers from several countries and is intended to have consequences beyond the two-day drill. Data and observations collected inside Luola will be used to develop a digital simulation and training environment for Finnish civil protection authorities. The project is scheduled to continue until April 2027.
The Kuopio exercise illustrates how Finland’s approach to preparedness combines physical infrastructure with training involving authorities, companies, schools, volunteers and ordinary residents. Rather than keeping civil defence facilities separate from everyday life, the Finnish model gives many underground spaces a permanent civilian function while preserving the possibility of rapidly converting them during a crisis.
