The Diplomat
The Minister of Foreign Affairs, José Manuel Albares, spoke yesterday with his Ukrainian counterpart, Dmytro Kuleba, and the Ambassador of Ukraine, Serhii Pohoreltsev, to convey to them Spain’s solidarity after the letter bomb attack against the Embassy in Madrid, in which an employee was slightly injured.
According to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Albares spoke by telephone with the ambassador from the Romanian base in Fetesti (located some 200 kilometers east of Bucharest) to inquire about the state of health of the Ukrainian worker injured in the attack, and Pohoreltsev explained the details of the attack. The minister contacted the ambassador “as soon as he heard the news of the attack,” the Ministry added. Albares was at the Romanian base to visit Spanish troops stationed there as part of the NATO air police mission.
Likewise, the Spanish Foreign Minister contacted from the same base with his Dmytro Kuleba, to whom he conveyed his support and solidarity. The Ukrainian Foreign Minister replied to Albares thanking him for his interest and support.
The attack was perpetrated after one o’clock in the afternoon by means of a letter bomb addressed to the ambassador, which did not pass through the scanner and was opened in the garden of the Embassy by the worker, a security guard of Ukrainian nationality. The employee was slightly injured and was taken by his own feet to the Nuestra Señora de América hospital in Madrid, where he was discharged after being treated for injuries to the ring finger of his right hand.
In declarations to Telemadrid, the Government delegate in Madrid, Mercedes Gonzalez, asked for calm and time while waiting for the police to investigate the origin of the letter. The Embassy has not yet commented on this attack. After the attack, the National Police activated the anti-terrorist protocol and cordoned off the area where the Embassy is located, where agents specialized in the deactivation of explosives (Tedax) and the Provincial Information Brigade of the National Police and canine guides went.
