In February 2026, in Kharkiv, two underage girls recruited by Russian intelligence services fatally poisoned a soldier of the National Guard of Ukraine.
Yurii Papusha, head of the Kharkiv Regional Prosecutor’s Office, reported this in an interview with Ukrinform.
“Unfortunately, we are already seeing that children are being recruited to commit particularly serious crimes. One such case occurred in Kharkiv at the end of last year. A minor girl received an offer via Telegram from a Russian handler to kill a soldier of the Ukrainian National Guard for 5,000 U.S. dollars. She enlisted her friend to help carry out the crime,” Papusha said.
Following the client’s instructions, the girls befriended the soldier. In February 2026, they invited him to a hotel under the pretext of spending time together, the head of the regional prosecutor’s office noted.
According to the investigation, the women received methadone via a parcel locker; following the client’s instructions, they mixed it into vodka and gave it to the soldier.
