7 Ukrainian embassies and consulates receive blood-stained packages in ‘terror campaign’ against Ukrainian diplomats
Oleg Nikolenko, an official representative of the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry, says that several Ukrainian diplomatic missions in European countries have received threatening packages:
Following the terrorist act in Spain, embassies in Hungary, Netherlands, Poland, Croatia, Italy, and Austria, consulates general in Naples and Krakow, as well as the consulate in Brno, received blood-stained packages. Inside, there were animals’ eyes. The packages themselves were soaked with a characteristically-colored fluid, and had a corresponding odor. We are considering the meaning of this message.
Nikolenko added that the entrance to the Ukrainian ambassador’s offices in the Vatican had been vandalized, and that the embassy in Kazakhstan got a false phone call about a bomb in the embassy.
The embassy in the U.S. received a letter with a photocopy of an article criticizing Ukraine — like the majority of the other envelopes, that particular letter arrived simultaneously with the others, from the territory of a single European country.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba thinks that what is taking place is “a well-planned terror and intimidation campaign against Ukrainian embassies and consulates”:
Since they have no ability to stop Ukraine diplomatically, they are trying to intimidate us. But I can say straight away that these attempts are useless. We will continue to work effectively in the future, in the interests of Ukraine’s victory.
On December 1, Kuleba said that three Ukrainian embassies had received letters with “symbolic threats,” in envelopes “soaked with red fluid.”
On November 30, an explosion occurred at the Ukrainian embassy in Madrid. A package addressed to the ambassador, Serhii Pohoreltsev, arrived in the mail, exploding when opened outdoors by one of the security agents. Pohoreltsev did not rule out Russian involvement in the delivery.
Following the incident in Madrid, similar packages were delivered to the Spanish Defense Ministry, to a satellite data center supplying information to Ukraine, and to a supplier of grenade launchers for the Ukrainian army.
Earlier, on November 24, another envelope apparently containing explosives was delivered to the offices of the Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez.