The BBC has revealed after a two-year investigation, that Ukrainian Leonid Zakutenko, a Kiev resident operating on a pro-suicide online platform, has been a key poison supplier who has been tied to at least 130 deaths in Britain alone. 

How it all started

The initial link to Zuktenko's alleged activities was found out by the journalists who discovered repeated mentions of a “Ukraine supplier” on a famous online platform promoting suicide hosting tens of thousands of users from all over the world. This prompted them to track his online store, email address, and PayPal account, in turn revealing his identity.

BBC reporters reached out to Zakutenko online in January 2022, pretending to be a potential buyer. The Kiev resident then did not hesitate to confirm that he could provide a chemical often used by suicidal people. Only a month after in 2022, the Ukraine-Russia conflict began, leading the reporters to assume that Zakutenko would no longer be able to operate. 

Amid the arrest of another poison dealer in Canada in May 2023, the reporters reached out to Zakutenko again who, back then, reportedly bragged that his business had expanded during the conflict. He flaunted that he was selling “five parcels a week” to the UK alone and that he had an “express” service to those willing to pay extra.

Read more: Canadian police probing 'suicide kits' sent to Montreal residents

Ukrainian Airbnb 'superhost', worldwide poison distributor 

In January 2024, the journalists attempted to meet Zakutenko in person through a Ukrainian fixer. The BBC broadcasters revealed that he originally accepted the meeting with his prospective 'poison buyers' under the cover of presenting to them an apartment for rent as he was an Airbnb “superhost” in Ukraine.

However, Zakutenko diverted his plans last minute, and the meeting never happened. This pushed the reporters to track him down by ordering poison delivery online and then confronting him on his way out of a Kiev post office, where he was delivering the agreed-upon parcel and at least 14 other packages to several locations around the world.

Upon the confrontations in person, Zakutenko dismissed his involvement in any poison-selling activities labeling the latter as “a lie.”

'We know, but we cannot'

The BBC broadcaster then informed the British and Ukrainian authorities about Zakutenko's alleged poison-selling activities and the platform he had been using, which was still functional as of Saturday according to Britain's state broadcaster.

It is still ambiguous whether the British or Ukrainian authorities have taken any action against Zakutenko.  According to the BBC, the new Online Safety Act permitted the British regulator Ofcom to dismantle the pro-suicide website, however, Ofcom was reportedly still figuring out a way to apply the legislation, and any enforcement action was unlikely to take place for many months.