Police Reclassify Explosion at US Embassy in Kyiv as “Hooliganism”

An explosion took place at the US Embassy in Kyiv, Ukraine at night. There were no victims. The police at first classified the incident as an act of terrorism, but further inspection of the explosion on the property of the embassy led to the incident being reclassified as an act of “hooliganism” according to the Criminal Code of Ukraine.

The Chairman of the National Police, Serhiy Knyazev reported this update from the press-service of the Interior Ministry.

“The object that was thrown onto the embassy’s property could not have harmed anyone. As such, the final decision has been to qualify this event as malicious hooliganism,” said Knyazev.

He added that control of the investigation in the criminal proceedings had been handed over to the Central Investigation Department and the Criminal Investigation Department of the National Police.

To ensure an objective investigation of the incident the Security Services have also been instructed to explore a separate version of the events as “a possible crime committed for terrorist purposes.”

Right after the explosion police came to the scene.

"The examination revealed that an unknown person threw an unidentified explosive device onto the property of the diplomatic mission. No one was hurt in the explosion," said the police statement.

On May 1, 2017 the US Department of State issued a travel alert to American citizens travelling to Europe, due to the continued threat of terrorist attacks.