On the morning of June 5, a package exploded at a sorting center of a postal operator in the Obolonsky district of Kyiv during inspection. One employee — a 59-year-old man — was killed on the spot. Two other men, aged 37 and 41, were injured. An investigative task force, bomb disposal experts from the Kyiv police, rescuers from the State Emergency Service, and medical personnel immediately began working at the scene.
A terrorist act, not an accident
Around 9:00 AM, the Kyiv City Prosecutor's Office announced the legal qualification of the event.
The explosion at the postal terminal in the Obolonsky district of Kyiv is qualified as a terrorist act.
— Kyiv City Prosecutor's Office
A pre-trial investigation was opened under part 3 of Article 258 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine — "a terrorist act that resulted in the death of a person." The investigation is being conducted by investigators from the SBU Main Directorate in Kyiv and Kyiv region under the procedural supervision of the city prosecutor's office. The difference between the first and third parts of the article is fundamental: the penalty increases to life imprisonment.
Not the first time: a pattern that cannot be ignored
This is already the second package explosion at a Kyiv postal facility in eight months. On October 30, 2025, a package exploded at a sorting center of Ukrposhta in the Solomyansky district during customs inspection before being sent abroad. Five people were injured then — three postal workers and two customs officers. The sender — a 40-year-old resident of Ternopil — was detained the next day. During a search of his apartment, about a dozen pieces of ammunition were seized. According to police, the man was manufacturing "souvenirs" from ammunition with engraving and sending them by mail.
The new explosion differs fundamentally in its legal qualification: in the October case, the investigation was opened under articles on illegal handling of weapons, whereas now the investigation immediately applied the article on terrorism — from the outset considering the intentional nature of the actions.
- October 2025, Solomyansky district: package at customs inspection before sending abroad — 5 injured, arrest the next day
- June 2026, Obolonsky district: package during internal inspection — 1 killed, 2 injured, investigation under the terrorism article
What is known and what is still unclear
Police confirmed the circumstances of the explosion — terminal employees were inspecting the package — but officially did not disclose the name of the postal operator or the type of explosive device. Channel 24 notes that Ukraine has seen an increase in terrorist attacks in public places, which law enforcement officials link to networks of Russian special services: for example, on May 23 in Odesa, a car was blown up, and the SBU qualified that case as a terrorist act using similar logic.
Suspects in the June 5 case have not been officially named. The investigation is ongoing.
If in October 2025 the sender was identified within 24 hours thanks to customs data, the key question now is: did this package have external shipping with real data — or is the investigation heading in a different direction?
