Ukraine Police Investigate 23 Fatal Soldier Poisonings in 2026

The Main Investigative Department said all 23 of the Ukrainian service members whose poisonings are under investigation have died, and that methadone was used in 13 of the cases. The figures were disclosed in a written response to a request from the investigative website Slidstvo.info, which published the findings on Nov. 10.

Police attribute the killings to orders from Russian special services, a claim that has not been independently verified. Investigators said they are examining 21 criminal proceedings in total. In the same reply, they said law enforcement had opened 20 such proceedings this year over the 23 deaths.

Underage Girls Among Those Implicated

Seven underage girls are among those identified in the cases, the police response said. The youngest was 14 at the time of the offense, according to Slidstvo.info.

Police said Russian special services recruit children to commit crimes through messaging apps, including Telegram, dating sites and other social networks.

Prosecutors have approved indictments in four of the proceedings and sent those cases to court, where trials are under way. One proceeding was transferred to another law enforcement agency on jurisdictional grounds. Pre-trial investigations, including forensic examinations, continue in the remaining cases.

How a Rivne Case Unfolded

Col. Andrii Bondarenko of the National Police described one case involving a 14-year-old girl from Rivne. He said a handler asked her to put on makeup and send selfies so she would look older, then used the photographs to message a Ukrainian service member in her name.

“The handlers from the Russian Federation asked her to put on makeup so it would be clear she was not 14 and so she would look older, like an adult woman. She agreed, put on makeup, took a few selfies and sent them to the handlers. Then the handler, using her name and photos, messaged a member of the Armed Forces of Ukraine,” Bondarenko told Slidstvo.info.

The girl later met the service member and, according to Bondarenko, remained on a video call with the handler during the meeting. When the man became unwell, the colonel said, she did not call an ambulance and began to suffocate him with a pillow and a phone charging cable.

An official National Police statement on Oct. 9 said the killing took place on Jan. 30 in a rented apartment. Investigators alleged that the girl mixed a narcotic into alcohol that had been supplied through a logistics company, and that a 27-year-old service member whom she had met on a messaging app about 10 days earlier lost consciousness after drinking it. Police said he died of mechanical asphyxia. The girl, who has not been named because she is a minor, was charged with contract murder committed by a group acting in prior conspiracy. An indictment was sent to court, and she faces up to 15 years in prison if convicted.

The same statement said investigators had identified the handler and the person who organized the contract killing, and that those proceedings were under the jurisdiction of the Security Service of Ukraine in the region. The 23-death tally published this week was provided by the National Police, not by the SBU.

Police Warn of Online Approaches

Bondarenko said a group of people, not a single operative, appeared to be involved in recruiting perpetrators, locating victims and arranging the supply of methadone.

“Investigative steps are under way to identify those involved in recruitment, in finding and sending methadone, in finding the victim and in finding the perpetrator. We understand that this is not one person at work, but a group of people who have one goal — the poisoning of our service members, murder by poisoning,” he said.

He said police and the military were warning service members not to communicate with strangers in Telegram chats, dating groups or on sites such as Badoo. An invitation to a romantic meeting with flowers and champagne, he said, could be part of a trap organized by Russian handlers.

On Oct. 23, Acting National Police Chief Maksym Tsutskiridze said officers in Zhytomyr region had detained a 17-year-old girl suspected of helping package and mail capsules that, according to investigators, contained lethal doses of methadone. He said organizers contacted service members through Telegram, offered free drugs and instructed recipients to consume them on camera. Two service members died in Zhytomyr region, and police said they prevented four further killings in Kirovohrad, Zaporizhzhia, Chernivtsi and Ivano-Frankivsk regions.

The pattern fits a wider warning from Ukrainian authorities that Russia recruits Ukrainian teens for espionage and other tasks through messaging apps. Kyiv has also told young people that the enemy is in your phone, as security services report minors being drawn into sabotage and intelligence work online.