Girl arrested after taking US$111 from Russia to poison Ukrainian troops

Ukrainian police said on Friday they had detained a 17-year-old girl suspected of helping Russia’s security services to poison Ukrainian soldiers and that two had died.

Ukraine and Russia have throughout their war since 2022 accused each other of recruiting minors for sabotage acts including poisoning.

The girl, who was not named, is suspected of having packaged deadly drugs and sending them to Ukrainian soldiers she contacted by Telegram, a police statement said.

She was arrested by police in Zhytomyr, west of Kyiv, after allegedly following instructions from a Russian handler in exchange for at least 5,000 hryvnias (US$111), they said.

After receiving packages with “free drugs”, the soldiers were “instructed to take them on camera”, the statement said.

“The recipients did not know that the capsules contained a lethal dose of methadone,” it said, adding that “two soldiers died from poisoning in the Zhytomyr region”.

Police said they had identified other recipients of the packages, which “prevented four more murders” across the country.

“The young woman was notified that she is suspected of aiding and abetting the premeditated murder of two people as part of a prior conspiracy,” the police statement said.

She was also suspected of “shipping drugs and psychotropic substances for the purpose of distribution”, it said, adding that she faced up to 15 years in jail if found guilty.

Police cautioned that Russia aims “to kill our people and destabilise the situation within the country”.

“Do not accept medication or other substances, as well as food or drinks of dubious origin, from people you do not know well,” police said.

Since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022, Ukrainian authorities say they have opened thousands of investigations into collaboration with the enemy and frequently arrest individuals accused of working for Moscow.

In 2023, Ukraine accused Russia of poisoning the wife of Kyrylo Budanov, who was then head of Ukraine’s military intelligence and is now a presidential adviser.