The event came as part of the large-scale, nationwide ILVES 2026 comprehensive defense exercise.

Exercise ILVES ("Lynx") 2026 is the largest non-military exercise of recent years, designed to train responses to a situation in which Estonia comes under several simultaneous attacks and based on real life incidents.

The activities started Monday, and on day three reached that point in the scenario where society as a whole had to confront the crises together, chief organizer, Marti Magnus said.

"During the first days, we focused on identifying the crisis, activating crisis management structures, and consolidating resources. Today, thousands of people across Estonia had to resolve hundreds of interconnected incidents simultaneously. It is in precisely these complex situations, marked by a high degree of uncertainty, that the most valuable lessons emerge and help us be better prepared in real life," Magnus noted.

Palsiski was just one example of the many crisis incident simulations unfolding simultaneously across Estonia on Wednesday and during the week, involving thousands of people in responses. These multiple crises converged into a complex cluster, testing the capabilities of the state, local government and partner organizations to act quickly, decisively and in a coordinated manner.

The Paldiski sub-exercise saw the Police and Border Guard Board (PPA) train for the scenario of a public demonstration, initiated by an adversary, escalating to a dangerous threat thanks to intentional provocation.

"This is certainly much broader than simply reenacting a single Bronze Night scenario, considering what we have already simulated in this exercise and what we will be practicing throughout the week," said Veiko Kommusaar, deputy director general for border management at the Police and Border Guard Board (PPA), referring to one real life case from 2007.

The maneuvers "range from mass movements of people toward our borders, to terrorist attacks in different cities, large-scale unrest, social assistance operations, various bomb threats, and in fact covers a very wide spectrum of tasks the state would face at such a time," Kommusaar told "Aktuaalne kaamera."

Members of the PPA's crisis reserve unit took part in Wednesday's exercise in Paldiski. The unit, set up around two years ago, is staffed by around 200 people, mostly former military police conscripts Established a couple of years ago. The crisis reserve unit is expected to grow to around 1,000 personnel next year alone.

"For reservists, this is a training assembly assigned by the Defense Forces. They attend upon receiving a summons, and they can only decline if they have valid grounds for exemption. As a rule, everyone shows up," said Kaspar Kõiv, development expert at the PPA's Crisis Preparedness Bureau.

This marrying of civilian law enforcement and military practices has also brought up legal issues and questions of powers.

"We have to teach them the legal framework within which the police operate and what rights the people we interact with have when we are acting as a crisis unit," Kõiv noted.

One participant was noted movie director German Golub. He completed his military service over a decade ago, and said the current exercise highlighted changes in military police training, including rules on the use of force, since then.

"Having firing practice every day or wearing riot gear—especially when it was nearly 30 degrees Celsius two days ago—is really tough. As a layperson, it seems to me that the equipment weighs quite a bit. The vest alone weighs three to four kilograms, and then there's everything else on top of that. It's certainly not easy, but at least today the weather is on our side," Golub, commander of a PPA crisis reserve platoon, told "Aktuaalne kaamera."

Over on Hiiumaa, responders practised dealing with an aviation accident, including rescue operations, casualty assistance, public order, crisis communications, and on-site coordination. The airport's crisis team also trained for remotely managing an incident at a regional airport from Tallinn.

A Ministry of Regional Affairs and Agriculture exercise distributed national food reserves from Estonian Stockpiling Center (EVK) warehouses in four municipalities, doling the pacaktes out to residents to maintain food security and supply in a crisis situation.

The Rescue Board (Päästeamet), the Women's Voluntary Defense Organization (Naiskodukaitse), and local government rehearsed operating 10 evacuation centers across Estonia. The largest exercise took place in Rapla, with a focus on logistics rather than evacuating people.

Wednesday's activities included simulated sabotage attacks on vital service providers, mass-disturbance management exercises, deliberate-arson emergency responses, and urban search-and-rescue drills.

Participants practised operating amid mobile communication disruptions. Regional crisis committees and local governments coordinated essential services, food distribution, and victim support, including psycho-social, emergency social, and child protection assistance.

Even members of the public not directly connected with Exercise Ilves were affected — at 3 p.m. the nationwide siren network was activated for 10 minutes.

People still found the exercise worthwhile, though. "There's nowhere to shelter here. Excuse me, but there's nowhere to shelter in the Old Town right now. We're not afraid of anything—we're old people already," said on passerby, Vaike.

"At home you can go down to the basement, but in a public place like this... I honestly wouldn't know where to go," said Kerli, another person "Aktuaalne kaamera" spoke to.

Some of the older people the show spoke to were more philosophical, noting they would not know where to seek shelter. "In that case, I'd just die. I've enjoyed my life, and I'm very open about that, which is why I'm not afraid," Aleksandra said.

Even a visiting Finnish tourist got the SMS notification about the exercise that had been sent out earlier in the morning. "I think it's good. We've had a lot of discussion about this in Finland—about the best way to notify people of danger. In my opinion, this worked well," the visitor noted.

Additional messages about the sirens sounding were not sent out on top of those notifications already sent, a move the Rescue Board said was due to costs considerations.

Viktor Saaremets, the board's deputy director general, declared the siren drill a success, noting "All 122 siren poles were activated, the national information systems were launched, the Eesti app and the "Ole valmis!" app were activated, while the warning appeared as a ticker message via ERR. Based on what we know right now, the test was successful," he said.

The next similar test drill is due for October; from next year the plan is to switch to cell broadcast alerts, which will send warning messages to all registered phones regardless of whether the user has downloaded the app or not.

Finland's Interior Minister Mari Rantanen was also in Estonia on Wednesday, meeting with her Estonian counterpart Igor Taro (Eesti 200) and observing the ILVES 2026 inter-agency exercise in action. Personnel from Finland's police and from its border guard took part in the exercise too.

Minister of the Interior @MariPSRantanen and Minister of the Interior Igor Taro met in Estonia on 10 June and observed the ILVES 2026 inter-agency exercise.

Also the Finnish Police and the Finnish Border Guard participated in the exercise.@SuomenPoliisi @rajavartijat pic.twitter.com/Cs0fJr0fcW

— Sisäministeriö (@Sisaministerio) June 10, 2026

State Secretary Keit Kasemets noted the day's events clearly demonstrated the importance of maintaining a comprehensive overview during a crisis, saying via a press release: "An adversary's objective is often to disperse attention, overload systems, and create confusion. The state's task is to maintain situational awareness, make decisions rapidly, and ensure that all parties work toward a common goal. ILVES provides us with an opportunity to practise precisely the kind of cooperation and decisiveness that complex crises demand from the Estonian state and society."

The Office of the President of the Republic, the Riigikogu, and the Government Office were actively involved in the exercise on Wednesday, rehearsing decision-making and inter-agency cooperation during a crisis.

Exercise Ilves continues on Thursday and reaches its peak on Friday, its final day. The exercise has involved more than 150 organizations from the public, private, and third sectors in training for crisis response and inter-organisational cooperation. Exercise ILVES 2026 is organized by the Government Office in cooperation with the Ministry of the Interior and other partner institutions.

A no comment video of the Paldiski exercise is below.

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