Status-6 (Twitter)
RT @Sassovivente: NEW‼️— Multiple sources have confirmed to me that Marianna Budanova, wife of 🇺🇦 Ukraine’s military intelligence chief, was quietly flown to the 🇺🇸 US for advanced treatment in Dec. 2024 — over a year and a half after a suspected Russian poisoning that targeted her and other top Ukrainian officials in one of the largest assassination attempts of the war.
Her relapse, and the #US intelligence services’ reported role in facilitating her care, shows both the long-term effects of the chemical attack and Washington’s ongoing behind-the-scenes support for #Ukraine in its fight against invading Russian forces.
A few other #HUR officials were also sickened in the poisoning, but Marianna suffered more severely due to her smaller size, officials said at the time. An internal investigation is ongoing, though few details have been released. @Bellingcat and @InsiderEng are also digging into the case.
Marianna initially recovered after treatment in 2023 but fell seriously ill again at the end of 2024 — a common pattern in arsenic and mercury poisonings, according to experts.
Sources say American military doctors invited her through HUR to receive care in the US after learning of her deteriorating condition. In Ukraine, advanced treatment for heavy metal poisoning is limited.
Marianna has lived with her husband, Kyrylo Budanov, in “The Island,” a secure compound for intel workers in Kyiv, since the full-scale invasion started. She made her first public appearance since the poisoning at an event last month.
Her poisoning — as the wife of the top intelligence official in Ukraine — and her covert care abroad shows just how personal and persistent the threats remain for those on and off the front lines of the war in Ukraine.
RT @Sassovivente: NEW‼️— Multiple sources have confirmed to me that Marianna Budanova, wife of 🇺🇦 Ukraine’s military intelligence chief, was quietly flown to the 🇺🇸 US for advanced treatment in Dec. 2024 — over a year and a half after a suspected Russian poisoning that targeted her and other top Ukrainian officials in one of the largest assassination attempts of the war.
Her relapse, and the #US intelligence services’ reported role in facilitating her care, shows both the long-term effects of the chemical attack and Washington’s ongoing behind-the-scenes support for #Ukraine in its fight against invading Russian forces.
A few other #HUR officials were also sickened in the poisoning, but Marianna suffered more severely due to her smaller size, officials said at the time. An internal investigation is ongoing, though few details have been released. @Bellingcat and @InsiderEng are also digging into the case.
Marianna initially recovered after treatment in 2023 but fell seriously ill again at the end of 2024 — a common pattern in arsenic and mercury poisonings, according to experts.
Sources say American military doctors invited her through HUR to receive care in the US after learning of her deteriorating condition. In Ukraine, advanced treatment for heavy metal poisoning is limited.
Marianna has lived with her husband, Kyrylo Budanov, in “The Island,” a secure compound for intel workers in Kyiv, since the full-scale invasion started. She made her first public appearance since the poisoning at an event last month.
Her poisoning — as the wife of the top intelligence official in Ukraine — and her covert care abroad shows just how personal and persistent the threats remain for those on and off the front lines of the war in Ukraine.