‘Poison assassination attempt on Ukrainian military chief’s wife leaves her seriously ill in hospital’

• Marianna Budanova, 30, was ‘poisoned with heavy metals’ and is hospitalised 
• She is the wife of Ukraine’s highly respected Lt-Gen Kyrylo Budanov, who has been identified as one of Russia’s priority targets in the conflict

The wife of Ukraine’s military intelligence chief is recovering after an attempt to assassinate her, according to reports today.

Marianna Budanova, 30, was ‘poisoned with heavy metals’ and is hospitalised.

This followed a ‘prolonged deterioration of her health’, reported Babel news outlet, citing intelligence sources.

Budanova is the wife of Ukraine’s highly respected Lt-Gen Kyrylo Budanov, 37, who has led operations to attack Russia with missiles and both aerial and sea drones during the 22-month conflict. Such attacks have been devastatingly effective.

‘The course of treatment is now being completed, and then there will be a check-up by the doctors,’ said an intelligence source on Budanova’s recovery.

The wife of Ukraine’s military intelligence chief is recovering after an attempt to assassinate her, according to reports today. Marianna Budanova (pictured), 30, was ‘poisoned with heavy metals’ and is hospitalised, they said

Budanova (pictured) is a psychologist by training who has acted as an aide to Kyiv mayor Vitalii Klychko. The exact nature of the poisoning which caused he to fall ill – and for which Russia is suspected – was not identified

The exact nature of the poisoning – for which Russia is suspected – was not identified.

‘These substances are not used in any way in everyday life or military affairs. Their presence may indicate a purposeful attempt to poison a specific person.’

Sources confirmed that attempts were also made on Kyrylo Budanov before and after the full-scale invasion. Respected by Western intelligence agencies, he has been identified as one of Russia’s priority targets in the conflict.

An investigation is being conducted into ‘the alleged attempt to kill the wife of the head of the [Ukrainian military intelligence agency’.

Moscow is suspected of being behind several chemical assassination plots, in both Russia and abroad, including in Ukraine.

In 2004, Viktor Yushchenko – who ran against Kremlin-backed candidate Viktor Yanukovych in Ukraine’s presidential election – was left permanently scarred when he was poisoned with dioxin. His face still bears the signs to this day.

In the UK, Russia has been found responsible for the 2006 poisoning and death of former KGB agent Alexander Litvinenko, and it was found highly likely that Moscow was behind the attempted poisoning of Sergei and Yulia Skripal in 2018.

Moscow is also suspected of being behind the plot to assassinate Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny, who fell ill on a flight and lapsed into a coma in 2020.

The nerve agent Novichok was found to have been used in the 2018 and 2020 attempts. The poison was developed by the Soviet Union, and is known to have been used in assassination plots in Russia since the mid-90s.

Marianna is a psychologist by training who has acted as an aide to Kyiv mayor Vitalii Klychko.

She has told how she has lived with her husband at his work since the war started.

She previously told Elle Ukraine: ‘On the evening of February 23 [2022], my husband told me that a full-scale invasion would begin at 5:00 am.

Marianna Budanova is the wife of highly respected Lt-Gen Kyrylo Budanov (pictured), 37, who has led operations to attack Russia with missiles and both aerial and sea drones during the 22-month conflict

‘We got ready and went to his work, and since then we have not been at home. I can’t say that we prepared in any special way: documents, phones, a set of clothes for the first time.

‘With that we left. By evening, I oversaw the preparation of the first special forces groups that were supposed to move to Hostomel, and the distribution of weapons and ammunition.

‘Everyone was waiting, at midnight the guys were eating hamburgers from McDonald’s. And they were ready for battle.’

She refused to leave Ukraine and has remained by his side, she said.

‘I’ll be honest – I had no fear or panic,’ she said.

‘As the wife of a military man who was wounded three times (two moderate wounds and one serious), I was mentally prepared for any scenario.

‘Therefore, I acted clearly and confidently: I did what I was told to do, everyone acted as a single team and a single whole.

‘You have to understand that there was almost no peacetime as such for my family.

‘A few months after I met my future husband, dramatic events began to unfold on the Maidan [the 2014 Ukrainian revolution].

‘Then, as you know, everything went on and on: the annexation of Crimea, the fighting in Donbas….

‘I’m used to living in a constant state of preparation and anticipation.

‘Therefore, the first days of the invasion did not come as a shock to me.

‘This is what Carl von Clausewitz called the fog of war – when it is felt even before it begins.’

She spoke of one missile attack during the war.

‘I took off her shoes and lay down on the sofa opposite the window,’ she said.

‘And a few minutes later I hear a sound that cannot be confused with anything – the sound of a rocket arriving.

‘I’m barefoot, with boots in one hand and documents in the other.

‘This may seem strange, but the first thought that flashed through my head was: I need to cover my face so that if I die, at least with my face uncut.

An investigation is being conducted into ‘the alleged attempt to kill the wife of the head of the [Ukrainian military intelligence agency’. Pictured: Budanova (left) and Budanov

‘I was ready for anything, but I didn’t expect that there would be thick grey dust in the air, like fog.

‘It immediately turns your eyes red and gives off a strong pungent odour.

‘I remembered that I needed to breathe through my nose so that small particles from the glass did not get into the trachea.

‘At that moment I ran out to the door, Kyrylo ran towards me.’

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