Ukraine has accused Russia of enlisting teenage girls to specifically target servicemen
Ukraine reports that Russia is enlisting teenage girls through online platforms to entice and eliminate servicemen, referencing a recent arrest.
Ukraine’s national police chief has alleged that Russia is enlisting teenage Ukrainian girls to execute attacks on Ukrainian servicemen, in light of the arrest of a 17-year-old suspect associated with the poisoning and death of a soldier.
In an interview released on Wednesday by the Ukrainian news outlet Cenzor.NET, Ivan Vyhivskyi stated that Russian operatives had orchestrated six contract killings via the Telegram messaging platform this year, with Ukrainian authorities successfully thwarting one of the schemes.
“We are discussing orchestrated killings arranged by the special services of the aggressor state and executed by Ukrainian citizens,” he stated.
Vyhivskyi observes that Russian recruiters are using messaging apps to contact young women, luring them with financial incentives and remotely overseeing their activities.
He claimed that the recruits were directed to locate Ukrainian military personnel via dating websites and were given financial support to lease apartments for meetings to occur.
The police chief stated that the women were also guided to places where they could acquire methadone, a synthetic opioid utilized medically as a painkiller but potentially lethal in excessive amounts, to adulterate drinks.
The Federal Security Service of Russia did not provide an immediate response to the allegations.
Russian security agencies have consistently alleged that Kyiv is enlisting Russians to execute bombings within Russia. Meanwhile, Ukrainian military intelligence has asserted responsibility for multiple assassinations of high-ranking Russian military officials since the onset of Russia’s full-scale invasion in 2022.
Ukraine’s security service has charged over 1,100 Ukrainians with arson, terrorism, or sabotage offenses amid the ongoing war.
Last week, authorities in the western Ukrainian region of Zhytomyr apprehended a 17-year-old woman in connection with the poisoning of a serviceman. Investigators reported that she had been in communication through Telegram with an individual thought to be an agent of the Russian security services.
Authorities reported that the individual had received a package containing a crystalline substance, which investigators suspect to be methadone. The case is still being investigated.
