Another bomb planted in Kremenchutskyi Telegraf office

Kremenchutskyi Telegraf (Poltava oblast) received another letter claiming that a bomb has been planted in their office, reported chief editor Lesya Lazorenko on Facebook on December 2, sharing the details with the regional Institute of Mass Information representative Nadiya Kucher.

“Another air raid alert. A bomb in the office. Coordinating the journalists' work outside the office. Waiting for the police out in the cold. And making sure to have some sweets in my pocket, because the bomb-sniffing dog Karat will be there and he does his job well. The investigator asked why exactly would someone plant a bomb in our Kremenchuk office, paralyzing the team's work. What can I reply, I suppose someone considers it worthwhile. And it is on those asking this question to find the answer. Maybe when they realize the reason, the answer will become clear,” the journalist wrote.

In her comment to the IMI representative, Lesya Lazorenko said that the bomb threat letter had been sent to the editorial inbox.

“The message is quite clever, stylistically. Signed by the War and ATO Veterans Association. They sent greetings to a Finance Ministry lady and added a photo of the device with a card attached,” said Lazorenko (the photo shows the card saying "For Svitlana Vorobey", Deputy Minister of Finance – author’s note).

Kremenchutskyi Telegraf received a photo of the "explosive device" together with the warning. Photo provided to the IMI by Lesya Lazorenko

This is the fourth time this year that the Kremenchutskyi Telegraf office received a bombing threat, says Lesya Lazorenko. She adds that the letter did not mention or allude to any content produced by the media outlet.

On October 14, multiple Ukrainian media outlets received bomb threats. Namely, Kremenchutskyi Telegraf received two emails claiming a bomb had been planted in their office.

On November 26, several Ukrainian media outlets and media offices received anonymous emails warning of bombs planted in various institutions across Ukraine. In particular, the letters to Detector Media and the International Multimedia Broadcasting Platform of Ukraine asked to blame Radio Liberty journalist Iryna Sysak and deputy Minister of Finance Svitlana Vorobey of the crime.