Mass Evacuations Across 11 Ukrainian Regions Following Wave of Bomb Hoaxes

Ukraine Hit by Coordinated Bomb Threat Hoaxes

According to Главком: A coordinated wave of false bomb threats swept across 11 Ukrainian regions on January 30, triggering mass evacuations. Anonymous threats were received in the following areas:

• Kyiv
• Poltava
• Lviv
• Ivano-Frankivsk
• Rivne
• Vinnytsia
• Ternopil
• Volyn
• Khmelnytskyi
• Dnipropetrovsk
• Kharkiv

As a result, children were evacuated from schools, and some local offices of the Ministry of Internal Affairs were temporarily closed. This disruptive tactic has become a common feature of the hybrid warfare targeting Ukraine, aiming to sow chaos and drain emergency resources.

Law Enforcement Response

Law enforcement agencies are conducting checks at educational institutions, government buildings, businesses, and other sites. Bomb disposal experts and canine units have been deployed to search for explosives. Notably, on January 9, the Kyiv Court of Appeal also temporarily suspended its work due to a similar threat demanding urgent evacuation.

In January 2025 alone, authorities recorded 697 false bomb threats targeting over 13,000 educational establishments. The Kyiv region was the most affected, with 80 such incidents. For the entirety of 2024, law enforcement received 4,435 hoax bomb threats concerning 61,216 educational institutions. While January 2024 saw 6,593 cases of 'mining' threats, the number of such incidents decreased by 72.9% in the subsequent periods of that year.

This situation underscores the severe challenges Ukraine faces in combating terrorism and disinformation, which are designed to create public panic. Law enforcement continues to work to neutralize threats and ensure public safety, while citizens are urged to remain vigilant about the dangers of hoaxes that disrupt the normal functioning of state institutions and schools.