Explosion at Ukrainian embassy in Madrid injures one person

An explosive device apparently hidden inside an envelope detonated at the Ukrainian embassy in Madrid on Wednesday, injuring an employee who was handling the letter, officials said.

“An explosive device hidden in an envelope detonated inside the embassy of Ukraine in Madrid. One staff member injured,” Oleg Nikolenko, a spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, said early Wednesday.

The letter was sent to Ambassador Serhii Pohoreltsev and exploded when the administrative staffer, a Ukrainian citizen, opened it, according to local newspaper El Mundo. 

The staff member suffered minor injuries and was able to take himself to the hospital.

The letter arrived by ordinary mail, but was not scanned. 

The explosion caused “a very small wound on the ring finger of the right hand” of the employee involved, according to Mercedes Gonzalez, the Spanish government’s representative in Madrid. 

Ukraine’s Foreign Affairs Minister Dmytro Kuleba ordered all Ukrainian embassies abroad to “urgently” strengthen their security. 

The minister urged his Spanish counterparts to “take urgent measures to investigate the attack” and to not allow whoever was behind the attack to intimidate Ukrainian diplomats or stop their “work on strengthening Ukraine and countering Russian aggression.”

Detectives are investigating the incident alongside forensic and intelligence investigators.

This is a developing story.