Russian Officers Poisoned at Military Celebration: Report

Two Russian officers were killed and 15 other servicemen were hospitalized in a mass poisoning attack that occurred during a military celebration in the occupied city of Mariupol, according to a Ukrainian official.

Petro Andriushchenko, an adviser to the exiled Ukrainian mayor of Mariupol, reported on the alleged poisoning in a Thursday Telegram post. Newsweek has not been able to independently verify the poisoning attack.

The poisoning was carried out by Ukrainian partisans as Kremlin forces celebrated Navy Day last Sunday, according to Andriushchenko. Navy Day is a popular national holiday in Russia that honors members of the nation's naval forces. Events are typically held in port cities throughout Russia, and Russian President Vladimir Putin was on hand for a large Navy Day parade of warships and submarines in St. Petersburg on that day.

"During the celebration...at one of the military facilities, officers were poisoned en-masse," Andriushchenko wrote, according to a translation by the Kyiv Post.

Andriushchenko said Kremlin-backed authorities in the occupied city believe cyanide and pesticides had been placed in food at the Navy Day celebration.

As a result, 17 Russian servicemen were admitted to the hospital in serious condition, according to the mayor's aide. He added that two men, whom he identified only as "officers," later died.

"Our people say with a smile, 'rats always need poison.' The day starts with good news. Sabotage is such a nice word, don't you agree?" Andriushchenko wrote, according to the Kyiv Post.

Newsweek reached out to the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs via email for comment.

Andriushchenko added that the poisoning is believed to have been carried out by the so-called Group Y, which is with Mariupol's pro-Ukraine resistance.

Partisans have been an active presence throughout the war that Putin launched against Ukraine in February 2022. Such resistance fighters attracted a great deal of attention in May when partisan groups claimed responsibility for strikes on military targets inside Russia in border regions such as Belgorod.

More recently, the Kyiv Post wrote that members of the underground resistance could have been responsible for tipping off Ukraine's forces about the location of Russian training camps on a beach on the Kherson island of Dzharylhach in the Black Sea,

Ukraine attacked the beach camps with HIMARS missiles, and video of the strike spread across social media. On Monday, Ukrainian media outlets reported that around 200 Russian soldiers were killed during the attack on Dzharylhach, but Newsweek has not been able to independently verify that number.