Several Ukrainian diplomatic missions in the European Union have received parcels with animal eyes in what Kyiv called on Friday a “well-planned campaign of intimidation.”
The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry’s statement came after a security guard at the Kyiv embassy in Madrid was slightly injured last Wednesday when he opened a booby-trapped letter addressed to the ambassador by mail, prompting Kyiv to step up security measures at its diplomatic missions.
Ukraine’s embassies in Hungary, the Netherlands, Poland, Croatia, Italy and Austria, in addition to its consulates in Naples, Krakow and the Czech city of Brno, received “bloody” parcels, Kyiv Foreign Ministry spokesman Oleg Nkolenko said.
He explained that the bags “had animal eyes” and were soaked in a liquid of a certain color, apparently referring to blood.
“We have reason to believe that there is a carefully planned campaign of intimidation and intimidation against Ukrainian embassies and consulates,” Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said in a statement.
But he stressed that it would not be easy to intimidate the Ukrainian authorities.
“We continue to work effectively to achieve the victory of Ukraine,” he added.
The representative of the Spanish police, in turn, confirmed that a “suspicious” package was sent to the Ukrainian Embassy in Madrid, but did not specify its contents.
He added that the authorities were conducting “additional analysis”.
In the Czech Republic, police said on Twitter that a package sent to the Ukrainian consulate in Brno contained “animal tissues,” adding that it would be subjected to “deep analysis.”
In Warsaw, the parcel was reported to the police at the diplomatic mission of Ukraine on Thursday.
“We quickly ruled out any danger,” police spokesman Sylvester Maryak told AFP, refusing to reveal the contents of the package.
An AFP correspondent in The Hague saw a police car parked outside the Ukrainian embassy on Friday afternoon, but an embassy official declined to comment.
For its part, Kyiv called on foreign governments to “ensure” the security of their diplomatic missions.
