Three Ukrainian diplomatic missions receive threatening letters soaked in red liquid

A day after a letter bomb exploded at Ukraine's embassy in Spain, three of the country's diplomatic missions received threatening letters soaked in red liquid on Thursday, Interfax Ukraine cited a senior official as saying. Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said the incidents were an attempt to intimidate Ukrainian diplomats, the agency reported.

"If they have already started attacking embassies ... it means that they are afraid of us, they are trying to stop us," Kuleba was quoted as saying.

"Inside these letters was a symbolic threat to Ukraine ... all the envelopes were soaked in red liquid at the time they were received," he further said.

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Also Read |Ukraine beefs up security at all foreign offices after letter bomb injures one at Kyiv's Madrid embassy

On Wednesday, a letter bomb injured a security officer at Ukraine's embassy in Madrid, following which Kyiv ordered greater security at all its representative offices abroad. Later the same day, Instalaza, an arms manufacturer in Zaragoza, Spain, received another package. Notably, the company has sent more than 1,000 C90 rocket launchers to Ukraine. On Thursday, an air force base housing a European Union satellite centre, Spain's defence ministry and the US Embassy also received packages.

The interior ministry revealed that an envelope with "pyrotechnic material" had arrived at Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez's official residence on November 24.

Ukraine's ambassador to Spain, Serhii Pohoreltsev, apparently blamed Russia for the blast. Spain's High Court has opened a probe into the attack as a possible case of terrorism, a judicial source said.

Pohoreltsev later said, "We have instructions from the ministry in Ukraine that given the situation we have to be prepared for any kind of incident... any kind of Russian activities outside the country."

On Thursday, bomb disposal experts defused a letter bomb at the US Embassy in Madrid, the sixth such device to be sent to similar targets. It was intercepted at the by security officials and was later detonated in a controlled explosion by Spanish police.

Spain has sent or committed to send military and humanitarian equipment to support Ukraine in the war.

(With inputs from agencies)

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