On 14 October 2024, more than 1500 emails threatening a bomb attack were sent to Ukrainian media outlets, government agencies, schools, business centers, and hotels, as well as dozens of Ukrainian embassies abroad. The sender blamed three journalists with U.S. Congress-funded broadcaster Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) — Iryna Sysak, Valeria Yehoshyna, and freelancer Yulia Khymeryk — for prompting them to plan the alleged attack. The threats followed an October 8 investigation by the three journalists published by Schemes, an investigative journalism TV program within RFE/RL’s Ukrainian service, about Russian secret services recruiting Ukrainians to set fire to Ukrainian military vehicles.
After evacuating several buildings after the bomb threats and investigating, Ukraine’s national police stated on October 15 that they opened criminal proceedings for “knowingly false reports of threat to the safety of citizens.” Ukrainian media outlets that received bomb threats included independent outlet Ukrainska Pravda, independent outlet Liga.net and one of its journalists, Volodymyr Fomichov, several regional offices of public broadcaster Suspilne, Kremenchutsky Telegraph, Zaporizhia-based 061.ua, online outlet Poltavska Dumka, RFE/RL’s office in the capital Kyiv, Syla Pravdy journalist Valentyna Kuts, PTV.ua journalist Oleksandr Krumin, Zhar.Info journalist Alona Bereza, 0372 journalist Maria Bodnarashek and press freedom group Detector Media.
According to RFE/RL, the unnamed group that claimed responsibility for the bomb threat messages also called for the burning of Ukrainian military vehicles on social media.
Ukrainian authorities later blamed Russian sources for sending out the bomb threats, claiming that most of the emails with threats came from Russian IP addresses.