Poltavska Dumka, a news website based in Poltava oblast, received three emails claiming that bombs had been planted in their office building on 30 January, chief editor Diana Strashko reported to Nadia Kucher, the Institute of Mass Information representative in Poltava oblast.
She said that her team had received three emails with threats. The sender did not refer to the news outlet by name, but said that receiving the letter meant there was a bomb planted in your building. The emails also listed several other facilities where the sender claimed to have installed explosive devices.
“The letter said that the sender had served as a miner in the Azov [Brigade], was severely wounded in action, and now the pension he receives from the state is not enough even to buy basic groceries for his family,” said Diana Strashko. She added that the letter listed addresses where explosives had been supposedly planted and did not mention Poltavska Dumka specifically.
“The letter only said that if we received the message it meant there was a bomb in our building and if we do not want to die we should leave immediately, that bombs had also been planted at some other addresses, in special containers that could not be detected by police dogs, that searching for the bombs was pointless, that the sender was a bomb-sweeper with 10 years of experience and knew their job very well,” said Diana Strashko.