Police: Teen's Methadone Parcels Killed 2 Soldiers, Averted 4 More Deaths

Ukrainian police said Friday that a 17-year-old girl has been detained in Zhytomyr for allegedly preparing and mailing lethal methadone capsules to Ukrainian soldiers at the direction of a Russian handler. Two soldiers died from poisoning in the Zhytomyr region after taking the capsules, police said. The suspect was not named.

Investigators said she was promised at least 5,000 hryvnias, about $111, for the work. Police said she contacted soldiers through Telegram, packaged the drugs and shipped them as parcels described as "free drugs." Recipients were "instructed to take them on camera," according to the police statement. "The recipients did not know that the capsules contained a lethal dose of methadone," police said.

Police said they identified other people who received packages and that the effort "prevented four more murders" across the country. The teenager has been notified she is suspected of aiding and abetting premeditated murder as part of a prior conspiracy, along with shipping drugs and psychotropic substances for distribution. She faces up to 15 years in prison if convicted.

Police said Russia aims "to kill our people and destabilize the situation within the country" and urged the public not to accept medication, food or drinks of unknown origin from people they do not know well. Ukraine and Russia have traded accusations of recruiting minors for sabotage, including poisonings, since the war began in 2022. Ukrainian authorities say they have opened thousands of investigations into collaboration with the enemy and regularly arrest people accused of working for Moscow.

Poisoning allegations have surfaced elsewhere. In 2023, Ukraine accused Russia of poisoning the wife of Kyrylo Budanov, then head of Ukraine's military intelligence and now a presidential adviser; several personnel from the GUR intelligence service received the same diagnosis. That same year, Paris prosecutors opened an investigation into the poisoning of a Russian journalist who displayed an anti-war slogan on state television. In an interview with The Sun, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he has survived "no fewer" than five or six assassination attempts since the 2022 invasion.