Ukrainian peace negotiators and Roman Abramovich have reportedly been ‘poisoned’ and left with their ‘skin peeling off’ following peace talks with Russia in Kyiv.
The group is believed to have been the victims of red eyes and tearing and peeling of their skin after the crucial meeting.
According to the Wall Street Journal, the symptoms reportedly began after a meeting in the Ukrainian capital which was meant to find a peace agreement to bring an end to the conflict.
At least two senior members of the group who took part in the negotiations are said to have developed painful symptoms that mirrored the effects of a poisoning.
The suspected attack is reportedly being blamed on on hard-liners in Moscow who they said wanted to sabotage peace negotiations to end the war.
It is thought outgoing Chelsea FC owner Abramovich and other Ukrainian negotiators’ lives are not in danger and their condition has since improved, report Mirror Online.
Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelensky has also met with Mr Abramovich, but is said to not be affected, they said.
It comes after reports Abramovich gave close friend Putin a handwritten note from Ukraine’s president Zelensky, prompting a savage reply from the Russian leader.
After relaying a message to Putin about potential terms of a peace agreement, Putin reportedly told Abramovich ‘tell him I will thrash them’.
Last week, the Kremlin has confirmed outgoing Chelsea owner was involved in early peace talks following the Russian invasion of Ukraine, reports the Mail Online.
President Vladimir Putin ordered his troops into the neighbouring country in late February, starting a bloody conflict which has been condemned by the vast majority of countries around the world.
The war in Ukraine led to heightened scrutiny of Russians living in the United Kingdom on so-called ‘Golden Visas’.
Abramovich was one such oligarch with assets worth billions in the UK, so claims he was playing a part in initial peace negotiations were met with surprise.
Those reports were not backed up by Russian government officials at the time but a Kremlin spokesperson has now confirmed the 55-year-old was involved.
“He did take part at the initial stage,” Dmitry Peskov, Putin’s press secretary, said of Abramovich on Thursday. “Now the negotiations are between the two teams, the Russians and Ukrainians.”
Abramovich’s mother, Irina, was born in Ukraine and his daughter, Sofia, has posted on social media to declare it is only Putin who “wants a war with Ukraine”.
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