Ukrainian police say they have detained a 17-year-old girl suspected of helping Russia's security services poison Ukrainian soldiers — a case that killed two servicemen and, investigators say, could have killed several more.
How the alleged plot worked
According to the National Police of Ukraine, the girl acted on instructions from a Russian handler: she packaged drugs and mailed them to soldiers she contacted through Telegram, using fictitious sender details. She was promised at least 5,000 hryvnias — about $111 — for the job, acting National Police chief Maksym Tsutskiridze said on October 23.
The organizers contacted soldiers via Telegram and offered them "free drugs." After receiving the packages, recipients were instructed to take the capsules on camera. What the soldiers did not know, police said, was that the capsules contained a lethal dose of methadone.
Two dead, four more saved
Two soldiers died from the poisoning in the Zhytomyr region. Police noted that both had left their military units without authorization — a fact Tsutskiridze said was "of no importance" to Russian intelligence. "A person is being targeted precisely because he is a Ukrainian military man," he said. "Because Russia's goal is to kill our people and destabilize the situation inside the country."
While investigating the deaths, police identified other recipients of the parcels — an intervention they say prevented four more killings in the Kirovohrad, Zaporizhzhia, Chernivtsi and Ivano-Frankivsk regions.
The charges — and the wider pattern
The girl, who has not been named, has been notified that she is suspected of aiding the premeditated murder of two people as part of a prior conspiracy, as well as shipping drugs and psychotropic substances for distribution. If convicted, she faces up to 15 years in prison, and investigators are checking her possible involvement in other crimes.
Since Russia's full-scale invasion began in February 2022, Ukraine and Russia have repeatedly accused each other of recruiting minors for sabotage acts including poisoning, and Ukrainian authorities say they have opened thousands of collaboration investigations. Police urged soldiers and their families to be cautious with new acquaintances and to never accept medication, food or drinks of dubious origin from people they barely know.
The case — a teenager accused of serving as a lethal courier for roughly a hundred dollars — has ignited fierce debate over how Russia recruits inside Ukraine, and whether minors drawn into wartime espionage are perpetrators, victims, or both. She remains a suspect; the investigation continues.
Watch: Search YouTube for video coverage of the Zhytomyr teen poison-plot case and Ukraine's investigation
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