Bloody packages containing 'animal eyes' sent to Ukrainian embassies across Europe
By Rob Picheta, Eve Brennan, Lindsay Isaac and Ivana Kottasová, CNNUpdated: Fri, 02 Dec 2022 13:21:25 GMTSource: CNNSuspicious packages, including blood-soaked envelopes containing "animal eyes," have
By Rob Picheta, Eve Brennan, Lindsay Isaac and Ivana Kottasová, CNNUpdated: Fri, 02 Dec 2022 13:21:25 GMT
Source: CNN
Suspicious packages, including blood-soaked envelopes containing "animal eyes," have been sent to Ukrainian embassies and consulates in several European cities, the country's foreign ministry has said.
Kyiv's embassies in Hungary, the Netherlands, Poland, Croatia, Italy, Austria, and the consulates general in Naples and Krakow, have received such packages, Oleh Nikolenko, spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, said Friday on Facebook.
The packages were "soaked in a liquid of a characteristic colour and had a corresponding smell," he said. "We are examining the meaning of this message."
Friday's statement came after an explosion occurred on Wednesday at Ukraine's embassy in Madrid, injuring one Ukrainian employee who was handling a letter addressed to the country's ambassador to Spain. Spanish officials said Thursday a letter bomb was also sent to the country's prime minister last week and another to the US embassy.
The Ukrainian Consulate in Brno, a city in the southeast of the Czech Republic, was briefly evacuated on Friday after receiving a suspicious package containing animal tissue, Czech police added in a tweet on Friday.
Ukraine has put all of its overseas diplomatic stations under heightened security following the slew of suspicious mail.
"We have reason to believe that there is a well-planned campaign of terror and intimidation of Ukrainian embassies and consulates," Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said. "Unable to stop Ukraine on the diplomatic front, they are trying to intimidate us."
Kuleba urged foreign governments to guarantee maximum protection of Ukrainian diplomatic institutions in accordance with the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations.
In addition to the suspicious packages, Nikolenko said the entrance to the Ambassador's residence in the Vatican was vandalized and the Ukrainian Embassy in Kazakhstan received a report of a bomb threat, which was later not confirmed.
Nikolenko also stated that the Ukrainian Embassy in the United States received a letter with a photocopy of a critical article about Ukraine. Most of the envelopes were sent from within Europe, he added.
Czech police tweeted that the consulate in Brno and its immediate surroundings, including a kindergarten, were evacuated Friday. After investigating the package, the police said it did not contain any explosives, adding that they had no information to indicate people at the consulate or its vicinity were in any danger.
"Initial analysis suggest the package contained animal tissue. A detailed analysis of will be conducted in laboratories now," the police tweeted.
