Salisbury spy poisoning: Yulia Skripal says she is 'lucky to have survived' and would one day like to go home to Russia

Yulia Skripal has said she feels lucky to have survived the nerve agent attack in Salisbury which left her fighting for life.

Ms Skripal, who was poisoned along with her ex-spy father Sergei, said her life had been “turned upside down” by the assassination attempt.

But the Russian national added she hoped to return to her homeland one day, despite the Kremlin being blamed for the attack.

The pair were found unconscious on a bench in the Wiltshire city on 4 March.

Ms Skripal, 33, was in a coma for 20 days following the attack and has been living under police protection at a secret location since her release from hospital last month.

“I woke to the news that we had both been poisoned,” she said in a signed statement written in both English and Russian.

“I still find it difficult to come to terms with the fact that both of us were attacked,” she added. “We are so lucky to have both survived this attempted assassination.

“Our recovery has been slow and extremely painful. I don’t want to describe the details but the clinical treatment was invasive, painful and depressing.

“I was discharged from hospital on the 9 April and continue to progress with treatment but my life has been turned upside down as I try to come to terms with the devastating changes thrust upon me both physically and emotionally.”

Both she and her father needed time “recover and come to terms with everything that has happened”, Ms Skripal said.

“In the longer term I hope to return home to my country,” she added.

Her 66-year-old father, who was the most critically ill following the attack, left hospital last week for the first time since he was poisoned.

“I take one day at a time and want to help care for my dad till his full recovery,” said Ms Skripal, who paid tribute to the “all of the wonderful, kind staff at Salisbury hospital”.

“I also think fondly of those who helped us on the street on the day of the attack,” she added.

Ms Skripal appeared on camera to deliver the statement, spoken in Russian, in a video issued by the news agency Reuters. It is in the first time she has been seen in public since the attack.

Reuters said Ms Skripal contacted the news agency through the Metropolitan Police. She did not take questions after addressing the camera.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov claimed Ms Skripal may be speaking under duress. “We have not seen her or heard from her,” he said.

The Russian Embassy claimed the video “only strengthens our concerns as to the conditions in which she is being held”.

“Obviously, Yulia was reading a pre-written text,” the embassy’s statement added. ”More than that, judging by quite a few elements, the text was a translation from English and had been initially written by a native English-speaker.

“The handwritten letters signed by Yulia in Russian and English confirm this impression.”

Russia’s ambassador in London, Alexander Yakovenko, has repeatedly demanded to see the Skripals since the attack and accused the UK of “kidnap”.

“I’m grateful for the offers of assistance from the Russian Embassy but at the moment I do not wish to avail myself of their services,” said Ms Skripal. “Also, I want to reiterate what I said in my earlier statement, that no one speaks for me, or for my father but ourselves.”

Both Ms Skripal and her father, a former MI6 double agent, are being kept in safe houses guarded by police.

Scotland Yard has declined to give any details of where the pair are being treated or security operations.

Security services are considering whether to move them to another country for their safety, sources told The Independent last week.

The British government has said it is “beyond reasonable doubt” that Russia carried about the attack, which left nearly 40 people in Salisbury needing treatment for exposure to the nerve agent.

But it is understood police have not yet identified a suspect as they hunt the would-be assassin who smeared the nerve agent on Mr Skripal’s front door.

With the culprits still at large, security services began reviewing arrangements for other Russian defectors living in the UK earlier this month

The Kremlin has repeatedly denied attempting to assassinate Mr Skripal, who was jailed for treason in Russia before moving to the UK following a 2010 spy swap.