Ukraine Peacekeepers And Russian Oligarch Poisoned After Kyiv Meeting?

At least two senior members of the Ukrainian peacekeeping team and Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich reportedly suffered symptoms from a suspected poisoning attack.

The Wall Street Journal reported that after a meeting in Kyiv, Ukraine earlier this month, Abramovich and the two senior Ukrainian peacekeepers, including Crimean Tatar lawmaker Rustem Umerov, began experiencing symptoms. The symptoms included constant and painful tearing, peeling skin on their faces and hands, and red eyes. Abramovich reportedly went blind for several hours.

The alleged attack happened after reportedly eating poisoned chocolates at the peace talks. Despite having the same food and drink as the other officials, a fourth member of the team reportedly did not fall ill.

Sources said that it’s not clear who was responsible for the alleged attack, but the victims pointed to hardliners in Russia who are trying to sabotage talks to end the Russia-Ukraine war. Some said that Abramovich, who recently confirmed that he has been the victim of a suspected poisoning, might have been poisoned by mistake, reported The Sun.

Abramovich and those who were affected have recovered although it remains unclear what was the substance that caused the symptoms. Western experts said that it was difficult to determine whether the symptoms were caused by some sort of electromagnetic-radiation attack or a chemical or biological agent, said sources.

The suspected attack on Abramovich and Ukrainian negotiators "was not intended to kill," said Christo Grozev, a member of the open-source collective Bellingcat. He described the suspected poisoning incident as "just a warning."

He has seen photographs of the effects of the suspected poisoning, but a timely sample collection could not be organized in Lviv, Ukraine, he said. This was so because the officials were in a rush to head to Istanbul, Turkey for additional talks between Ukrainian and Russian officials later this week, he added.

Fox News contacted Mykhailo Podoliak, an adviser for Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, but he denied information about the suspected poisoning. In reaction to the report about the suspected poisoning, Podoliak said on Monday, "All members of the negotiating team are working normally today." He added that in the information field there are "now many information speculations, various conspiracy theories and elements of one or another information game."