Four explosions minutes apart rocked the center of the eastern Ukrainian city of Dnipropetrovsk on Friday injuring at least 27 people, including nine children. The blasts come just weeks before Ukraine is due to co-host the Euro 2012 football championship.
No one has claimed responsibility for the bomb attacks or has made any demands. The authorities have called the incidents “acts of terrorism” and have vowed to find the perpetrators. The city remains on high alert and some of the communication infrastructure has been shut down to prevent any further potential attacks.
The opposition was quick to react and accuse the government of President Viktor Yanukovych of involvement. The deputy parliamentary speaker, Mykola Tomenko, who is a member of the jailed opposition leader and former PM Yulia Tymoshenko’s Fatherland party accused the authorities of engineering the bomb explosions. He said that they were to distract the public’s attention away from the alleged torture by prison authorities of Tymoshenko who is currently on hunger strike protesting her innocence.
The opposition’s accusations are likely to add to the confusion in the country and probably intoxicate already tense relations between the government and the opposition ahead of October legislative elections. Ukraine has seen a number of small terrorist attacks in recent years but nothing major was carried out by any known militant group.
However, the recent wave of attacks are reminiscent of another one carried out again in Dnipropetrovsk in November 2011 when a bomb planted in a rubbish bin exploded killing one person. A similar attack took place in January 2011 in the eastern Ukrainian town of Makyevka. In both cases the organisers threatened further attacks if they were not paid large sums of money by the municipal authorities.
While it is unclear if the attacks are carried out by criminally or ideologically motivated people or groups, they will certainly tarnish Ukraine’s image as a relatively safe country. This is certainly unwelcome news ahead of European football championship that the country will host in June.
Meanwhile, the opposition’s accusations are likely to stir further public anxiety about the motives behind today’s attacks. Furthermore, in the past Russia’s North Caucasian Islamists have claimed that Ukraine’s Crimean peninsula, which has large Muslim population, should make part of the Caucasian Emirates that they are seeking to create.
The recent bombings may also bring unwanted attention to Ukraine’s significant Muslim population.
