The Ukrainian Security Service (SBU) has detained three people suspected of involvement in a series of explosions in the southeastern city of Odesa.
SBU spokeswoman Olena Hitlyanska told reporters in Kyiv on April 1 that the three -- who reportedly identified themselves as communist activists -- had confessed to committing "at least nine acts of terrorism in Odesa" between December and March.
Hitlyanska said a shotgun, chemicals, mobile-phone parts, and timers similar to ones used to detonate handmade explosive devices in Odesa, were found on the suspects.
A series of bomb blasts have hit Odesa and another eastern Ukrainian city, Kharkiv, in recent months.
Ukrainian authorities blamed those blasts -- many of which seemed to target organizations with ties to soldiers fighting in eastern Ukraine -- on Russia and the rebels who hold parts of the eastern regions on Donetsk and Luhansk.
Both cities are under the Ukrainian government's control but are seen as prizes coveted by the Russian-backed rebels.