Two blasts in eastern Ukraine, threats of more

Two blasts took place simultaneously in the eastern Ukrainian town of Makiyivka on Thursday but no one was hurt, a local police spokesperson said.

The interior ministry said the unidentified attackers had left a note at one of the explosion sites demanding money and threatening to set up five more explosions at 17:00 local time.

"From what has already happened we see that they're not joking," deputy interior minister Vasyl Farynnik said on state television.

Police spokesperson Ihor Dyomin said the blasts occurred at 6:00 am local time, one near the building of a local coal company and the other at the city's market.

Ukrainian news agencies said the blasts only damaged windows.

Last October, three small bombs went off next to government buildings in the Ukrainian city of Kirovograd, hours before a visit by President Viktor Yanukovich. They did not cause any injuries and the police said they were acts of hooliganism.

This month, unidentified attackers used explosives to destroy a monument to Joseph Stalin in the city of Zaporizhya.