Ukraine police chief accuses Russia of recruiting teenage girls to kill Ukrainian servicemen
Ukraine's national police chief says Russia has recruited at least six young Ukrainian women, including a 17-year-old, to poison and kill Ukrainian military personnel through coordinated operations on Telegram and dating apps. Russian operatives allegedly promise easy money and provide methadone to the women to lace servicemen's drinks at arranged meetings. The allegations come as both countries accuse each other of recruiting citizens for targeted killings during the ongoing war.
Ukraine's national police chief Ivan Vyhivskyi has accused Russian security services of recruiting young Ukrainian women, some as young as teenagers, to carry out contract killings against Ukrainian military personnel. According to Vyhivskyi, there have been at least six such cases this year, with one prevented. The alleged scheme involves Russian recruiters finding young women through messaging platforms like Telegram, promising them money, and instructing them to target servicemen through dating websites. The women are provided funds to rent apartments for meetings and given methadone—a synthetic opioid that can be lethal in high doses—to poison the servicemen's drinks. A specific case involved a 17-year-old girl arrested in Zhytomyr last week after a 27-year-old soldier died from poisoning. The girl confessed to receiving instructions and methadone from a suspected Russian operative via Telegram. This accusation reflects the broader pattern of mutual accusations between Ukraine and Russia, with Ukrainian military intelligence claiming responsibility for assassinating Russian officers while Russian security services accuse Kyiv of recruiting Russians for bombings.
How coverage differed
The New York Post uses more sensational framing with terms like 'honeypot trap' in the headline and includes CCTV imagery descriptions to emphasize the operational details, while The Straits Times presents the same facts in a more measured, straightforward manner without the visual dramatization.
What different sources said
- The Straits TimesCenter
Ukraine police chief says Russia recruits young women to kill Ukrainian servicemen
- New York PostRight
Russia recruiting teens to poison Ukrainian servicemen in honeypot trap, police chief says
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