Ukrainian bomb disposal experts have found no explosive substance, device or objects after searching Odesa's House of Trade Unions building and the adjacent area, the Odesa regional police public relations department has said.

People were evacuated from Kulykove Pole Square to safety after an unknown individual had called police saying that a bomb had been planted in the area.

Currently, the access to the House of Trade Unions is free again, police said.

Measures are being taken to identify and hold accountable the person who reported the bomb to police.

As reported earlier, at 12:45 p.m. police received a report from an unidentified person that a mine had been planted at the House of Trade Unions in Odesa. A team of police field operatives, a group of bomb disposal experts, and employees of the Ukrainian State Emergencies Service were then sent to the scene. Police evacuated people from the square and cordoned it off.