Ukraine’s Foreign Minister is accusing Russia of sending letters containing explosives and animal eyes to embassies in six European countries.
The Associated Press reports Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Oleh Nikolenko claims “bloody parcels” were received by the Ukrainian embassies in Hungary, the Netherlands, Poland, Croatia and Italy. Meanwhile, the United States embassy in Madrid, Spain was also on the receiving end of said letters.
“We can confirm a suspicious package was received at the US Embassy in Madrid, and are aware of reports of other packages sent to other locations throughout Spain,” the United States embassy told the AP.
The Ukraine’s ambassador to Spain, Serhii Pohoreltsev, told the outlet that the embassy fell victim to an explosion caused by the parcels.
“The package contained a box, which caused suspicion to the commandant and he decided to take it outside – with no one in the vicinity – and open it. After opening the box and hearing a click that followed, he tossed it and then heard the explosion,” Pohoreltsev said.
Ukraine’s ambassador to the Vatican, Andrii Yurash, shed more light on what was inside the letters, revealing that Italy received some documents containing “animal eyes.”
“And also the diplomatic mission in Italy received some letters also with some very unpleasant stuff inside, I mean some animal eyes. I don’t know exactly but it looks like eyes from fish or some other animals,” Yurash said. “So it is hard to explain completely why, and what is the reason of this terrible message, but it is no doubt a systematic trend, a systematic attack on Ukrainian missions around Europe.”
Though no injuries have been reported, the aforementioned embassies have stepped up their security following the threat.
