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Kyiv: Several Ukrainian embassies abroad have received “bloody packages” containing animal eyes, the foreign ministry said on Friday, after a series of letter bombs were sent to addresses in Spain including Ukraine’s embassy in Madrid.

The packages, soaked in a liquid with a distinctive colour and smell, were sent to embassies in Hungary, the Netherlands, Poland, Croatia and Italy, to general consulates in Naples and Krakow, and the consulate in Brno, spokesperson Oleg Nikolenko said.

“We are studying the meaning of this message,” Nikolenko wrote in a statement on Facebook, adding that Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba has ordered all the embassies and consulates concerned to be placed under heightened security.

Six letter bombs have been sent this week to targets in Spain, including Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez and the US Embassy to Madrid, prompting Spain to step up security.

Nikolenko said the entrance to the flat of the ambassador to the Vatican had been vandalised. An embassy source in Rome said human faeces were left in front of the door.

Nikolenko also said that the embassy in Kazakhstan had received a bomb threat, which was subsequently not confirmed.

The embassy in the United States received a letter containing an article that was critical about Ukraine, he said.

The letter, like most of the others, originated from one European country, he said, without giving details.