Police Detain Ukrainian Teen Accused of Poisoning Soldiers for Moscow

Ukrainian police detained a 17-year-old girl on Friday who is suspected of helping Russian security services poison soldiers in the Zhytomyr region. The arrest provides a concrete example of a tactic Moscow has employed to target military personnel through small, seemingly harmless packages sent via courier.

The suspect, whose name has not been released, was captured in Zhytomyr, a city located west of the capital Kyiv. Investigators said she operated under the direction of a Russian handler and received at least 5,000 hryvnias, approximately $111, for her services. Her role involved packaging deadly substances and mailing them to soldiers she had contacted through the Telegram messaging app.

According to a police statement, the recipients believed they had been sent free drugs. They were instructed to consume the capsules while recording themselves on video. The statement noted that the soldiers did not know the capsules contained a lethal dose of methadone. Two soldiers in the Zhytomyr region died from the poisoning.

Investigators have identified additional recipients of the packages, a move they say prevented four other murders across the country. The young woman faces charges for aiding and abetting premeditated murder as part of a prior conspiracy. She is also suspected of shipping drugs and psychotropic substances for distribution. If found guilty, she could face up to 15 years in prison.

Police stated that Russia aims to kill Ukrainian personnel and destabilize the internal situation. They urged the public to avoid accepting medication, food, or drinks of unknown origin from people they do not know well. This case fits into a wider pattern of mutual accusations between Ukraine and Russia regarding the recruitment of minors for sabotage tasks since the war began in 2022.

Ukrainian authorities have opened thousands of investigations into alleged collaboration with the enemy and regularly arrest individuals accused of working for Moscow. Previous poisoning cases include the 2023 poisoning of the wife of Kyrylo Budanov, then head of military intelligence and now a presidential adviser, as well as several GUR personnel. In the same year, Paris prosecutors opened an inquiry into the poisoning of a Russian journalist.

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy told The Sun that he has survived at least five or six assassination attempts since the invasion began. The recent detention in Zhytomyr underscores the continued focus on covert operations targeting the military supply chain and individual soldiers.