Five Injured in Parcel Explosion at Postal Sorting Center in Kyiv

An explosion at a Ukrposhta sorting center in the Solomianskyi district of Kyiv injured five people on Thursday.

Kyiv police said that they were working to establish the circumstances of the blast, which occurred while staff were inspecting a parcel.

“According to preliminary data, the explosion occurred at the sorting center of one of the postal operators during inspection of one of the parcels,” city police said in a statement.

“Five employees of the post office were injured as a result of the incident and are receiving medical assistance,” the police statement continued.

Medics, a team of investigators and police bomb disposal experts have completed work at the scene, various sources confirmed.

A source speaking to Ukrainian outlet Ukrainska Pravda said that the blast was linked to an attempt to send a component of a grenade launcher by post.

The State Customs Service of Ukraine, writing on Facebook, clarified that among the injured were two employees of the Kyiv Customs Office and three Ukrposhta workers.

“An explosion occurred during the customs inspection of international postal shipments being processed for export from Ukraine. The explosion was caused by an unknown object contained inside one of the parcels,” it said.

“Processing of shipments in this zone has been temporarily suspended. Operations will resume as soon as possible, taking the security system into account,” the statement continued.

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Kyiv Mayor Vitaly Klitschko confirmed the incident in a statement on Telegram, writing: “Five people injured in a parcel explosion at a branch of Ukrposhta were admitted to hospital by medical personnel.”

Ihor Smilianskyi, the Ukrposhta CEO, wrote on Telegram: “The incident happened during routine control procedures aimed at detecting prohibited items in parcels. Thanks to the measures taken, another package containing dangerous and forbidden contents was also identified and seized.”