Pershyi Kryvorizkyi receives video of a bomb being planted in their office, death threats

On March 13, two journalists with the online media outlet Pershyi Kryvorizkyi received messages threatening to blow up the building where their office is located, reports the media outlet's executive director Sofia Skyba to Kateryna Lysiuk, the Institute of Mass Information representative in Dnipropetrovska oblast.

Journalist Maria Puntus received a message to her personal Telegram account with a threat to blow up the editorial office. The unknown sender called his actions “a game that has just begun” but would start with the editorial office being destroyed. They claimed to have installed an explosive device with a clockwork mechanism that had started the countdown the moment the message had been sent, and called any attempts to find the device futile. For the first time, the sender attached a 14-second video which allegedly shows them planting the bomb and setting the timer to support his claims.

Collage from the video received by Maria Puntus on Telegram. Screenshots by Kateryna Lysiuk

At about the same time, another journalist, Yevhenia Bykova, received an email whose anonymous sender claimed they intended to come to the editorial office and murder everyone. The sender said that they had already left the schools where they had planted bombs and now planned to come to the building where the Pershyi Kryvorizkyi office is located and “shoot everyone I see.” They gave the exact time of their arrival and said that they had enough weapons to purge the entire building, and then they would blow themselves up.

“Our two journalists who received the message assume that the sender got their contacts from the city chat room which our media outlet launched about seven years ago, probably. They often use their personal accounts to talk to the audience there,” said Skyba. She added that the topics these journalists actively report on include fighting Russian propaganda.

These are not the first anonymous bombing threats received by Pershyi Kryvorizkyi. In 2025 alone, the media outlet has received about a dozen and a half messages via email or messenger apps claiming that bombs had been planted in the building in which their office is located. The staff of the media outlet reported the latest bombing threats to the relevant services immediately.

“We appreciate the work of the police and understand all the complexities of the situation. We are also tired of this, and we understand that these attacks are most likely aimed at sabotaging our nervous systems in order to make the police tired of such cases and of documenting war crimes, etc. However, we would like to know whether the cases are moving forward. Everyone who comes to the call always takes our statements as politely as possible, no issues with that, we trust them. But what's next? The investigators do not talk to us!” said Sofia Skyba.