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The wife of Lieutenant General Kyrylo Budanov, chief of Ukraine’s military intelligence operations, and several of the agency’s officers are undergoing medical treatment after being poisoned with heavy metals, two Ukrainian intelligence officers have said.
Andriy Yusov, an officer in Ukraine’s GUR military intelligence directorate, told the Financial Times that the attack on Marianna Budanova was “intentional . . . there is no other possible scenario”, adding: “Several officers were also poisoned.” Another GUR officer confirmed the attacks.
The officials did not reveal further details of the incident affecting Budanov’s wife, which comes almost two years since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine. They did not immediately blame Russia for the attacks, though intelligence agency officials have previously claimed that Budanov had survived more than 10 assassination attempts.
Budanov, a 37-year-old former special forces commando appointed to lead the GUR by President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in 2020, oversees some of Ukraine’s most clandestine counter-attacks and operations against Russia’s invasion, including long-range drone strikes and subversive activities deep in Russian-occupied territory.
Budanova was recovering following medical treatment in a hospital, Yusov said, adding that more details would be released at a later time.
Citing Ukrainian intelligence officials, online news site Ukrainska Pravda also reported on Tuesday that she was recovering and that traces of the poisonous substance were found in the bodies of other individuals also being treated.
Another news site, Babel.ua, also citing officials, reported that the poisonous substance was not one found in household items, indicating the metal could be one typically used in poisoning incidents such as arsenic.
In an interview this autumn with defence information website The War Zone, Budanov boasted that his wife spent so much time with him that she practically lived in his office at GUR’s Kyiv headquarters.
“Why don’t you understand that [my wife and I are living in my office]? Why is that strange for you?” Budanov asked.
“She has been living with me since [Russia’s February 2022] invasion. And she’s a police officer herself,” Budanov added. “She’s actually a professor at our national police academy, teaching legal psychology. It’s not a problem for her as it might have been for someone else.”
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