Ukraine arrests teenager for poisoning soldiers on Russian orders

Ukrainian National Police have arrested a 17-year-old teenager accused of poisoning two military personnel and attempting to kill four others. The suspect allegedly acted under instructions from the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) via the Telegram messaging app.

According to investigators, the teenager was promised approximately 5,000 hryvnias, or about 100 euros, to carry out the killings. The method involved mailing packages containing lethal doses of methadone to the soldiers. The suspect reportedly manipulated the victims into consuming the substances on camera to provide evidence to Russian supervisors.

The two fatalities occurred in the Zhytomyr region. Following the deaths, police identified the targets of other packages, successfully preventing the deaths of four additional soldiers in the Kirovograd, Zaporizhzhia, Chernivtsi, and Ivana-Frankivsk regions. The suspect faces up to 15 years in prison for complicity in premeditated murder within an organized criminal group and illicit drug trafficking.