Bomb THREATS – Multiple Evacuations Ordered

Multiple Malls In Ukraine Evacuated After Bomb Threats

There were reports last weekend that shopping centers and markets in the western Ukrainian city of Lviv were evacuated after a series of bomb threats were called in to the police.

Ukraine’s ambassador to Estonia tweeted last Saturday that the bomb threats were made by either Russians or pro-Kremlin actors.

The Kyiv Independent also claimed Lviv police had received anonymous phone calls about explosive devices planted in shopping centers across the region and people had been evacuated while police conducted searches with bomb-sniffing dogs.

There are no reports that any bombs had been found.

While the bomb threats may not have been authorized by the Kremlin, the threats do cause further disruption in a city that just two weeks earlier suffered another round of air strikes.

In mid-October, Lviv was one of the Ukrainian cities targeted by airstrikes as part of Russia’s retaliation for the October 8 truck explosion on the Kerch Bridge that connects Russia to Crimea.

In a video address the following day, Russian President Vladimir Putin also described the bomb blast as “an act of terrorism.”

That Monday, Russia began launching a series of missile strikes on several cities, including Lviv in response to the truck explosion.

At least 84 cruise missiles and 24 drones were used in Monday’s attack, killing at least 11 and injuring over 60.

In addition to Lviv, explosions were reported in Kyiv, Ternopil, and Zhytomyr in western Ukraine, the central Ukraine cities of Dnipro and Kremenchuk, as well as Zaporhizhzhia in the south, and Kharkiv in the east.

Many of the strikes hit during rush hour and left large swaths of the country without power.

In a single strike on Kyiv, at least 8 people were killed and another 24 injured.

The strikes on Lviv hit critical infrastructure, causing the city to lose power. The following day, three additional explosions hit the city.

Putin later boasted that the strikes were an act of revenge for the Kerch Bridge explosion.