KYIV, Ukraine — Marianna Budanova, the wife to Ukraine’s top military spy official has been hospitalized after being diagnosed with clear heavy metals poisoning, Kyiv officials confirmed on Tuesday, an incident that has amounted to widespread notion that Russia was stepping up efforts targeting Ukraine’s topmost leadership.
Marianna is the wife of Kyrylo Budanov, who heads the military intelligence unit GUR, which has been greatly involved in Ukraine’s attempts to remove Russia from its jurisdiction, and western personnel have since been suspicious that Russian agents could have tipped off a staff member to conduct the heinous act of poisoning.
“Without a more detailed understanding of the test results and patient history – including their symptoms and potential exposure to certain foods – it’s impossible to judge the likelihood that any of the victims were deliberately poisoned,” said Dr. Edward Boyer, the chief of the University of Massachusetts Medical School’s toxicology division.
“What is going to be really important to suss out are the actual symptoms. Different metals have different toxicities associated with them,” Boyer said. “It’s important to get not only an environmental exposure history but also a food intake history, coupled with the honest-to-goodness symptoms,” he added.
Moreover, according to Andriy Yusov, a spokesman for the agency, the test results show that Ukrainian Defense Intelligence directorate employees have also been sickened, and Ukrainian authorities are conducting investigation into the situation.
“Marianna Budanova was indeed poisoned by heavy metals. She is now undergoing a course of treatment, which is already coming to an end,” said Yusov.
“Budanova had suffered from “a prolonged deterioration of her health,” said doctors. “Heavy metals not found in “ordinary civilian or military life” were identified. “This was a purposeful attempt,” one said.
Budanov is a hated individual for the Kremlin and is commonly perceived as a greatly successful and versatile spy chief. He is responsible for a range of successful special undertakings, a number of them right inside Russian territory. Besides, he has survived several assassination attempts.
Additionally, in a prior interview last week, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy confirmed that he’s survived a number of assassination attempts since Russia’s invasion to Ukraine last year.
“The first one is very interesting, when it is the first time, and after that it is just like COVID,” said Zelenskyy. “First of all, people don’t know what to do with it and it’s looking very scary. And then after that, it is just intelligence sharing with you detail that one more group came to Ukraine to [attempt] this,” he asserted.
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