‘Bloody parcels’ containing animal eyes sent to some of its embassies, Ukraine says

Ukrainian embassies and consulates in six European countries have received packages containing animals’ eyes in recent days, a Ukrainian official said Friday.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Oleh Nikolenko wrote on Facebook that the “bloody parcels” were received by the Ukrainian embassies in Hungary, the Netherlands, Poland, Croatia and Italy, and by consulates in Naples, Italy; Krakow, Poland; and Brno, Czech Republic. He said that “we are studying the meaning of this message.”

“It’s a very strong signal,” said Kovalenko Maksym, the Ukrainian consul in Naples, who confirmed that his office had received two letters about 10:30 a.m. Thursday containing fish eyes.

Nikolenko said the parcels arrived after a package containing an explosive device that was sent to the Ukrainian Embassy in Madrid ignited upon opening Wednesday and injured an employee. That was one of multiple explosive parcels found in Spain this week. A suspicious package delivered to the U.S. Embassy in Madrid was detonated by Spanish authorities.

In addition, the entrance to the residence of the Ukrainian ambassador to the Vatican was vandalized, and the Ukrainian Embassy in Kazakhstan was warned of an attack with explosives, though that wasn’t confirmed, Nikolenko said.

In Poland, a spokesman for the police in Warsaw confirmed that a package delivered to Ukraine’s consulate in the capital Thursday “raised concern” in one of the employees. The police department responsible for protecting diplomatic missions was notified, and “we quickly eliminated the danger” spokesman Sylwester Marczak said.

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He provided no further details. Marczak said he was not aware of any such parcel arriving at the Ukrainian Embassy in Warsaw.

In the Czech Republic, police said an X-ray scan found no explosives in a checked package, but they added later that animal tissue was found inside. It has been submitted for laboratory tests.

Ukraine’s ambassador to the Vatican, Andrii Yurash, said the entrance to his Rome residence was vandalized with what he believed was animal feces Thursday afternoon. The door to the apartment building and the stairs and walls in the entryway were “smeared with a dirty substance with an unpleasant smell,” he told the Associated Press. He said his wife and son were not home at the time, and police were called.

All Ukrainian embassies and consulates have stepped up security measures. Nikolenko quoted Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba as saying that “we have reason to believe that a well-planned campaign of terror and intimidation of Ukrainian embassies and consulates is taking place.”