Marianna Budanova, the wife of Ukraine’s spy chief has been reportedly poisoned in an assassination attempt after her husband Lt. Gen. Kyrylo Budanov led a missile & drone blitz on Russia.
Marianna Budanova, 30, was ‘poisoned with heavy metals’ and is hospitalised.
She is the wife of Ukraine’s highly respected Lt-Gen Kyrylo Budanov, who has been identified as one of Russia’s priority targets in the conflict.
Putin’s spies are known to have a love of using poisons on their enemies and sources have alleged the Russian president is likely behind it.
Here’s everything we know about Marianna Budanova, her husband, her profession, and what happened to her.
Who was Marianna Budanova?
Marianna Budanova (born in 1993) was the spouse of Ukraine’s spy chief, Lt. Gen. Kyrylo Budanov.
Marianna’s husband is the Chief of Ukraine’s Defence Intelligence.
While Lt-Gen Kyrylo Budanov, 37, is a highly respected spymaster, his wife Marianna is a trained psychologist who has acted as an aide to Kyiv mayor Vitalii Klychko.
Also, there are no details about her family and other facts about her personal life.
What happened to Marianna Budanova?
Marianna Budanova has been reportedly poisoned in an apparent assassination attempt, DailyMail reports.
This comes after her husband led a drone blitz on Russia.
Following the incident, the 30-year-old woman has been hospitalised and reports indicate she was poisoned with a number of substances, including “heavy metals” – such as arsenic, mercury, or lead – along with other intelligence staff.
Vladimir Putin’s vile forces are immediately suspected of being behind the attempted hit – with the Kremlin having a love of using poison.
“She was hospitalised after a prolonged deterioration of her health”, reported Babel news outlet, citing intelligence sources.
It later emerged that other military intelligence staff were poisoned and are now undergoing tests.
However, Ukrainian sources allege that Marianna’s husband was not found to have been poisoned.
The exact nature of the spat of poisonings is not yet known, but the 30-year-old is said to be recovering.
Intelligence sources claimed: “These substances are not used in any way in everyday life or military affairs.
“Their presence may indicate a purposeful attempt to poison a specific person.”
“It is true about Budanov’s wife [being poisoning],” Ukrainska Pravda quoted an unnamed source saying.
“She complained about not feeling well, so she took some tests, which revealed poisoning.”
The poisoning “was most likely poisoned by food”.
“She is better now, she has passed the first stage of treatment. Since Budanov’s wife is small with a small weight, it manifested itself faster in her.”
Later, the poisoning was confirmed by several other employees.
“They didn’t notice anything about themselves, and now they are also being treated,” the source claimed.
“They are just bigger-built, so they didn’t notice any signs of it; they are now receiving treatment.”
Who is Lt-Gen Kyrylo Budanov?
Kyrylo Budanov was born in Kyiv on January 4, 1986, with the real name Kyrylo Oleksiyovych Budanov.
He graduated from the Odesa Institute of the Ground Forces in 2007.
Kyrylo Budanov, who holds the rank of lieutenant general, is the chief of Ukraine’s Defence Intelligence (DIU).
He has led operations to attack Russia with missiles and both aerial and sea drones in the 22-month conflict since Vlad’s invasion.
He has held this reputable position since 2020.
Budanov previously served as the Deputy Director of one of the Departments of the Foreign Intelligence Service of Ukraine. He holds the rank of lieutenant general.
Sources also confirmed that attempts were made on Budanov before and after the full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
Respected by Western intelligence agencies, he has been identified as one of Russia’s priority targets in the conflict.
An investigation is being conducted into “the alleged attempt to kill the wife of the head of the [Ukrainian military intelligence agency”.
Marianna has told how she has lived with her husband at his work since the war started.
She previously told Elle Ukraine: “On the evening of February 23 [2022], my husband told me that a full-scale invasion would begin at 5:00 am.
“We got ready and went to his work, and since then we have not been at home. I can’t say that we prepared in any special way: documents, phones, a set of clothes for the first time.
“With that we left. By evening, I oversaw the preparation of the first special forces groups that were supposed to move to Hostomel, and the distribution of weapons and ammunition.
“Everyone was waiting, at midnight the guys were eating hamburgers from McDonald’s. And they were ready for battle.”
She refused to leave Ukraine and has remained by his side.
“I’ll be honest – I had no fear or panic,” she said.
“As the wife of a military man who was wounded three times (two moderate wounds and one serious), I was mentally prepared for any scenario.
“Therefore, I acted clearly and confidently: I did what I was told to do, everyone acted as a single team and a single whole.
“You have to understand that there was almost no peacetime as such for my family.”
She has also spoken about living in constant fear due to her husband’s work.
And she revealed at one point the couple were sheltering when a missile strike hit them. Marianna said:
“This may seem strange, but the first thought that flashed through my head was: I need to cover my face so that if I die, at least with my face uncut. I was ready for anything, but I didn’t expect that there would be thick grey dust in the air, like fog. It immediately turns your eyes red and gives off a strong pungent odour. I remembered that I needed to breathe through my nose so that small particles from the glass did not get into the trachea. At that moment I ran out to the door, Kyrylo ran towards me.”
Do Lt. Gen. Kyrylo Budanov and Marianna have any kids?
Kyrylo Budanov is not known to be a father, hence, he is believed to not have kids.
There are no reports that confirm that Lt. Gen. Kyrylo and his wife, Marianna Budanov, have welcomed a son or a daughter in their years of marriage.
Also, it is not known if the couple has adopted any children.