Multiple journalists and media outlets receive emails threatening to blow up various institutions

Multiple Ukrainian media workers and media offices received emails from unknown individuals claiming that various institutions across Ukraine had been mined. Namely, such letters were received by the Vilne Radio CEO Anastasia Shybiko and the chief editor of the Kharkiv media outlet Dumka Yuriy Larin, which they reported to the Institute of Mass Information representative Valentyna Troyan.

The letters were sent from different email addresses and signed with different names.

The Institute of Mass Information representative received two such letters. In one, the sender claims to be an ATO veteran, and in the other, they pose as an experienced soldier, but both say they are a "mines and explosives specialist."

The letters included a list of institutions where bombs had allegedly been planted, with the addresses. However, the listed addresses do not match the mentioned institutions, notes Valentyna Troyan.

The sender says that they left a vacuum-packed device containing explosives within a building and mentions the address of a building that has allegedly been blown up already.

The letter contains threats of explosions in “a school, a media office, a hotel, and an Administration”.

The senders claim that the motive behind their terrorist attacks is "the abuse faced by of Ukraine's combat and ATO veterans."

The IMI representative reported the letters to the Security Service of Ukraine.

Moreover, the media outlets The Page and Speka also received emails about bombs being planted in multiple facilities in Kyiv and Lviv and the senders' intent to orchestrate explosions in public places. The sender also called themsleves an ATO veteran, Speka reports. The news outlet points out that some of the addresses are listed incorrectly and some objects, such as the Pulsar mall on Sofiivska Street in Kyiv, do not exist at all.

The sender blames the society for treating combatants unfairly. They threatens to continue bomb attacks “every three to four days,” targeting schools, administrations, media outlets, and public transport.

On October 14, 2024, multiple national and regional media outlets and journalists received identical emails with bomb threats. Such letters arrived to several Suspilne branches, Ukrainian Pravda, Detector Media, LIGA.net, Poltavska Dumka, Kremenchutska Hazeta, Syla Pravdy, etc.

The emails list the Radio Liberty journalists whom the senders blame for the supposed terrorist act. These are Iryna Sysak, Valeria Yehoshyna, and Yulia Khymeryk, who are the authors of the Radio Liberty investigation into the FSB's recruitment of Ukrainian children to set fire to UAF cars.

The senders asked to give all the credit to "the terrorist group Fire Cells Group". The police checked all the buildings where bombs were said to have been planted and said that the threats were false and came from Russian IP addresses.