Marianna Budanova, wife of Ukraine's military intelligence head Kyrylo Budanov, was secretly transported to the United States for treatment in December 2024, according to freelance journalist Katie Livingstone. This occurred more than a year and a half after her alleged poisoning with heavy metals.
"Multiple sources have confirmed to me that Marianna Budanova was quietly flown to the US for advanced treatment in Dec. 2024 — over a year and a half after a suspected Russian poisoning," Livingstone wrote on X.
According to Livingstone, who has reported on the war since Russia's full-scale invasion began in 2022, several members of Ukraine's military intelligence (HUR) were affected by the poisoning. Still, Budanova's condition was particularly severe due to her smaller stature.
"A few other HUR officials were also sickened in the poisoning, but Marianna suffered more severely due to her smaller size, officials said at the time," Livingstone noted.
Livingstone reported that "Marianna initially recovered after treatment in 2023 but fell seriously ill again at the end of 2024 — a common pattern in arsenic and mercury poisonings, according to experts."
"Sources say American military doctors invited her through HUR to receive care in the US after learning of her deteriorating condition. In Ukraine, advanced treatment for heavy metal poisoning is limited," she added.
Marianna returns to the public eye
In February 2025, Budanova made her first public appearance since the poisoning, attending a YES meeting in Kyiv alongside her husband. The couple appeared in good health, with Marianna visibly smiling in footage from the event.
The poisoning was first revealed on 28 November 2023. Intelligence sources reported that substances found in her body, including mercury and arsenic, "are not used in everyday life or military applications." Kyrylo Budanov showed no symptoms at that time. The case was classified as an attempted murder, with suspicions that she was poisoned through food.
Ukraine's military intelligence directorate did not name the perpetrators or those who ordered Budanova's poisoning. However, Budanov himself has survived at least 10 assassination attempts.
"If Russia was able to poison Ms. Budanov, it would suggest that its agents were operating closer to the inner circles of power in Kyiv than previously thought possible," The New York Times wrote at the time.
Livingstone noted, "Marianna has lived with her husband, Kyrylo Budanov, in The Island, a secure compound for intel workers in Kyiv, since the full-scale invasion started."
"Her poisoning — as the wife of the top intelligence official in Ukraine — and her covert care abroad shows just how personal and persistent the threats remain for those on and off the front lines of the war in Ukraine," Livingstone concluded.
Budanova is a psychologist who has previously run for Kyiv City Council and served as Kyiv mayor Vitalii Klitschko's advisor on anti-corruption matters in youth policy and sports.
Read more:
- Sky News: Poisoning of Ukrainian spy chief's wife was likely "attempt on her life by Russia," says foreign minister
- Wife of Ukraine's intel chief allegedly poisoned
- Ukraine's spymaster Budanov confirms Russia shot down Azeri plane
