Reservists are meant to complement the ranks of the Defense League's territorial defense units. While the organization has over 30,000 members, its nationwide distribution is not even, and Southern Estonia sports thin Defense League coverage.

Young people tend to leave areas where public services are hard to come by, which means there will be no new Defense League members there, said Maj. Gen. Ilmar Tamm, commander of the Estonian Defense League (EDL).

"The periphery from the Alutaguse unit all the way to Valga in the south virtually has a status quo situation of just 10 percent growth," the EDL chief noted.

The Defense League is updating its training, which the organization wants to showcase at the August Victory Day parade.

"The plan is to have drones out. Because drone warfare is developing rapidly and we've made relevant efforts in the Defense League, we want to demonstrate where we are, our resources and how we operate them," Tamm said.

The Defense League is looking to experience from Ukraine in its use of drones and working with Estonian companies on developing an assault drone capable of carrying a small explosive charge.

"There's an ongoing project with the curious name of Kuri Siil (Angry Hedgehog). The project is seeing lighter explosive charges of two or three kilograms attached to drones. We're working with the private sector. Testing will commence soon. The plan is to work with private sector companies to manufacture a thousand drones to send to Ukraine and to receive feedback from there. Provided they work, our own units could make use of the drones," Tamm explained.

A Finnish branch of the Defense League has been created in Tallinn that calls itself Sommi grupp. It is made up of half a dozen Finns living in Estonia.

"I live here. I own a small bar next to the Baltic Station Market. /.../ We have friends who are Defense League members and asked whether we'd like to put together a Finns group. And here we are," said Jukka Tennunen.

"It has been haunting me since I was young. I couldn't join the army back then. But the wish to do so has been growing stronger, and I thought I'd finally do it. I'm willing to do my part for defense," Minna Rytylä said.

The Finns are part of the Defense League's naval division and will be in charge, for example, of evacuating Finnish people in case of a crisis.

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