Police in Spain are investigating a possible link between two letter bombs sent to the Ukrainian ambassador in Madrid and to a weapons company that produces rocket launchers and donated to Kiev, they confirmed in a statement on Wednesday.
In the first incident, an officer from the Ukrainian embassy in Madrid was injured when he opened a letter bomb addressed to the ambassador, prompting Kiev to order increased security at all its representations abroad.
Ambassador Serhii Pohoreltsev told Ukrainian news site European Pravda that the suspicious package was handed to him by the embassy commander, a Ukrainian staff member.
“The package contained a box, which aroused the commander’s suspicion and he decided to take it out – without anyone around – and open it,” said Pohoreltsev.
“After opening the box and hearing a click that followed, he threw it and then heard the explosion… Despite not holding the box at the time of the explosion, the commander hurt his hands and suffered a concussion. “
Hours later, a weapons company in Zaragoza, in northeastern Spain, received a similar package, police confirmed.
The government representative in Zaragoza, Rosa Serrano, said in an interview with the SER station that the two envelopes appeared to have the same sender, as the back of both had the same email address. Serrano said the packages came from Ukraine and this alerted the arms company, which called the police.
The weapons company is Instalaza, the manufacturer of the C90 missile launcher that Spain is donating to Ukraine.