Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich and at least two Ukrainian peace negotiators showed symptoms of suspected poisoning following a meeting in Kyiv earlier this month, according to a new report.
People familiar with the matter told the Wall Street Journal that Abramovich, who has been involved in attempts to end the war, and the Ukrainians suffered from symptoms including red eyes, constant and painful tearing, and peeling skin on their faces and hands.
The victims of the suspected poisoning have since improved and their lives are not in danger, according to the report.
Western experts who investigated the suspected poisoning said it is difficult to determine whether the symptoms were caused by a chemical or biological agent or by some sort of electromagnetic-radiation attack, according to the report. Sources told the outlet they believe the attack was perpetrated by hard-liners in Moscow hoping to sabotage the peace talks.
A spokesperson for Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who has met with Abramovich, said he had no information about the incident, the Wall Street Journal reported. Zelensky was not affected by the suspected poisoning.
Meanwhile, hours after the Wall Street Journal report was published on Monday, a U.S. official told Reuters that intelligence suggests Abramovich and the Ukrainian negotiators were sickened by an environmental factor, not poisoning.
“The intelligence highly suggests this was environmental,” the unnamed official told Reuters. “E.g., not poisoning.”
The investigation into the suspected poisoning was organized by Christo Grozev, an investigator with the open-source collective Bellingcat, according to the report. Grozev said a timely sample collection could not be arranged and that by the time a German forensic team was able to perform an examination, it was too late to detect the suspected poison.
“It was not intended to kill, it was just a warning,” Grozev told the outlet.
The news comes as Ukrainian and Russian delegations are arriving in Istanbul on Monday for more in-person talks.
Zelensky said Sunday that Ukraine is ready to discuss adopting a neutral status as part of a peace deal with Russia, though the agreement would have to be guaranteed by third parties and put to a referendum.
“Security guarantees and neutrality, non-nuclear status of our state. We are ready to go for it. This is the most important point,” Zelensky said in a video call with Russian journalists, according to several reports.
Ukraine voted in 2014 to abandon its “neutral status” and seek NATO membership after Russia invaded and annexed Crimea.
Zelensky said no peace deal would be possible without a ceasefire and troop withdrawals and also declined to discuss several other Russian demands, including the demilitarization of the country.