Bomb explodes in downtown Kyiv hotel (06/20/99)

Bomb explodes in downtown Kyiv hotel

by Roman Woronowycz
Kyiv Press Bureau

KYIV - An explosive device detonated in the Sport Hotel at midday on June 15 injuring nine people, three of them critically, and destroyed the building's first three levels.

The bomb, which contained nearly two kilograms of plastic explosives, blew out car windows and building glass on adjoining streets and caused ceiling tiles and light fixtures to fall on the upper floors of the building. Many of the injuries were due to flying glass and debris.

Ministry of Internal Affairs officers said the bomb was placed underneath a sofa in the hotel's first-floor reception area. Officials noted that fragments of the explosive device and the suitcase in which it was contained had been found in the area.

The hotel, located in the city center and adjoining the city's large Olympic Stadium, had received at least one bomb threat weeks prior to the explosion. An employee of the hotel told The Weekly that last month hotel officials had received a telephone call stating that a bomb had been placed in the building and would detonate momentarily. The hotel was evacuated immediately, but no explosive device was found. The employee, who works as an accountant in one of the hotel's restaurants and wished to remain unidentified, said this time no warning calls were received.

Ministry of Internal Affairs officials told the newspaper Fakty that they are not excluding the possibility that the bombing was part of a mafia war or that it is a revenge attack among commercial interests.

Fakty noted that several commercial entities had ongoing business disputes in which the hotel was directly or indirectly involved, including problems with a firm that was renting the second floor and another one that was doing renovation work on the building.

Several top Ukrainian athletes were registered at the hotel on the day of the explosion, among them Kateryna Serebrianska, the 1996 Atlanta Olympic Games gold medalist in rhythmic gymnastics, and members of the Ukrainian national basketball squad and the national power lifting team. None of the athletes are among the injured or hospitalized.

Ukraine's Institute of Sport is located across the street from the hotel, and the offices of Ukraine's State Committee on Sports and Youth, as well as the National Olympic Committee are nearby, so many of Ukraine's top sports stars reside at the hotel when in Kyiv.

Several hours later a bomb threat was received at the Hotel Myr, located on the other side of the city. However, militia officials found no evidence of explosive devices during a search of the premises.

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