Ukrainian police have detained a 17-year-old girl accused of helping Russian security services poison Ukrainian soldiers, with two servicemen allegedly dying after taking capsules containing a lethal dose of methadone.
The unnamed suspect was arrested in Zhytomyr, west of Kyiv, after investigators said she had followed instructions from a Russian handler in return for at least 5,000 hryvnias (£111).
Police allege that she packaged the drugs and sent them to soldiers she contacted through Telegram. The recipients were reportedly offered “free drugs” and instructed to take them on camera.
“The recipients did not know that the capsules contained a lethal dose of methadone,” police said in a statement, adding that “two soldiers died from poisoning in the Zhytomyr region”.
Authorities said they had identified other people who received packages, an intervention they claimed “prevented four more murders” elsewhere in Ukraine.
The girl has been notified that she is suspected of aiding and abetting the premeditated murder of two people as part of a prior conspiracy, according to police. She is also accused of sending drugs and psychotropic substances for distribution.
If convicted, she faces up to 15 years in prison, police said.
Ukrainian authorities warned that Russia was seeking “to kill our people and destabilize the situation within the country”. They urged people not to accept medication, other substances, food or drinks of dubious origin from people they did not know well.
Ukraine and Russia have repeatedly accused each other of recruiting minors for sabotage, including poisoning operations, during the war that began with Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022.
