ZHAR.INFO journalist receives bomb threats via email

ZHAR.INFO founder and journalist Alyona Bereza received anonymous emails claiming that a bomb had been planted in the building where the media outlet's office is located on January 5 and 6.

Alyona Bereza reported this to the Institute of Mass Information.

The sender, who claims to live in Switzerland and sympathize with the Palestinian Islamist militant group Hamas, also threatened to bomb six other facilities in different oblasts.

“For two days in a row, emails similar to those we have received before have been arriving in the inbox. What is new about them is that they feature a list of obscure Telegram groups and a photo of a man in glasses smoking a cigarette. As for the approach, nothing has changed: the letters are sent from a suspicious email address registered under a woman's name. The letter uses masculine pronouns,” says Alyona Bereza.

Inna Hleha, chief of communications at the Khmelnytskyi Oblast Police HQ, said in a comment to the IMI that on January 6, bomb threats also arrived to the inboxes of multiple institutions and organizations in Khmelnytskyi oblast.

She says that the list of the supposedly 'mined' facilities in the email includes names of establishments that never existed in Khmelnytskyi oblast.

“Some of the claims have already been checked by police officers and explosive specialists. The checks are still ongoing. So far, the information has not been confirmed,” Inna Hleha reported.

The police have inspected all the listed facilities and found no explosives. Data on the received threats was entered into the ERDR under Part 2 of Article 259 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine (“Knowingly false report of a threat to the safety of citizens, destruction or damage to property”).

On January 5, the police received reports of bombs planted int two shopping malls in Khmelnytskyi. The examination did not confirm the reports.

As IMI reported, on December 13, 2024, the online news outlet ZHAR.INFO received emails claiming that bombs had been planted in their editorial office.

On December 12, 2024, multiple media outlets and journalists received identical emails from unknown senders with threats to bomb various institutions across Ukraine, as well as the editorial offices themselves. Such letters were received by both national media outlets and regional ones (in Zaporizhzhia, Rivne, Volyn, Kropyvnytskyi, Poltava oblasts).