Ukraine's desire for high-speed trains is denied by Finland

Finland has rejected a Ukrainian request for several passenger trains that used to run between Helsinki and St. Petersburg, as the rolling stock is in-part owned by Russia. The request for four Allegro high-speed trains was made by the CEO of Ukrainian railway company Ukrzaliznytsia Alexandr Kamyshin to Finnish Prime Minister Sanna Marin during her visit to Kiev last week. VR Group received the Ukrainian request on Tuesday via government channels, but Topi Simola, the company's director for urban transport, told STT that they could not hand over the trains nor make any decisions on its own about the future of the Allegros, as they're owned by Karelian Trains, a company co-owned by VR and Russian national railway operator RZhD. Simola said the final decision hinges on consensus among the Allegros' owners. The Allegros were built in 2010 and can travel at 220 km/h (137 mph).

However, they stopped operating in late March 2022 due to sanctions the West had slapped on Russia over the Ukraine conflict. According to Simola, while the Allegros have gone through some minimal maintenance, it would still take some time to get them back on tracks.