Image copyright Yulia Skripal/Facebook Image caption Yulia Skripal was treated in Salisbury District Hospital for more than a month after being exposed to a nerve agent 
 
 Yulia Skripal, the poisoned daughter of Russian ex-spy Sergei, has been discharged from hospital. 
 
 The 33-year-old left Salisbury District Hospital on Monday and has been taken to a secure location. 
 
 The hospital said: "This is not the end of her treatment but marks a significant milestone." 
 
 Her 66-year-old father remains in hospital and is "recovering more slowly than Yulia". Doctors hope he will be discharged "in due course". 
 
 The pair were taken to hospital on 4 March after being exposed to the toxic nerve agent Novichok. 
 
 The father and daughter were found slumped on a park bench in the centre of Salisbury. 
 
 Wiltshire Police Det Sgt Nick Bailey, who attended the scene, was also treated in hospital after being exposed to the nerve agent, but has since been discharged. 
 
 A statement from Ms Skripal released through the Metropolitan Police last week said her "strength is growing daily". 
 
 Mr Skripal remains at Salisbury District Hospital but is no longer in a critical condition. 
 
 Medical director Dr Christine Blanshard said he has made "good progress", adding: "Although he's recovering more slowly than Yulia we hope he too will be able to leave hospital in due course." 
 
 Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Hospital boss says release "significant milestone" for ex-spy's daughter 
 
 The government says Russia was behind the poisoning, and Prime Minister Theresa May said Moscow was "culpable" for the attack. 
 
 But the Russian government denied any involvement and has accused the British of inventing a "fake story". 
 
 According to the BBC's security correspondent Frank Gardner, Whitehall officials have compiled a list of 26 alternative explanations for the attack that have been put forward by Russia's government and media. 
 
 So far they have attached blame to Ms Skripal's mother-in-law, Theresa May, and a drone, among others. 
 
 Meanwhile, Mrs May welcomed the news of Ms Skripal's discharge from hospital and wished her the best for her recovery. 
 
 The Russian Embassy congratulated Ms Skripal but said: "We need urgent proof that what is being done to her is done on her own free will." 
 
 Responding to a Sunday Times report that the Skripals could relocate and be offered new identities, the embassy said it would view any possible resettlement as an "abduction". 
 
 On Sunday the Anglican Bishop of Salisbury will host a "service of cleansing and celebration" for the attack victims at St Thomas' Church, less than 200m from where the Skripals were found. 
 
 It will be followed by a procession near to the bench where they became ill. 
 
 Police said the pair first came into contact with the nerve agent at their home. 
 
 Image copyright Getty Images Image caption Specialist officers in protective suits have retrieved samples from multiple sites in Salisbury 
 
 The BBC's health and science correspondent James Gallagher said Novichok prevents enzymes called acetylcholinesterase from functioning normally at nerve junctions, including those required to keep the heart beating. 
 
 He said: "But over time, the nerve agent is metabolised and excreted by the body and new acetylcholinesterase is made. 
 
 "The question is whether doctors can keep patients alive long enough for that to happen." 
 
 BBC security correspondent Gordon Corera said the highest concentration was found on the Skripals' front door handle. 
 
 Traces of Novichok were also found at the Mill pub and Zizzi restaurant in Salisbury, where the Skripals spent the afternoon. 
 
 Zizzi, the Mill, the Maltings shopping centre and the Skripals' home remain cordoned off, Wiltshire Police said. 
 
 Investigators identified 131 people who had potentially been in contact with the nerve agent, and up to 500 people who visited the pub or the restaurant were told to wash their clothes and possessions. 
 
 Analysis: Will Russia get access to Yulia Skripal? 
 
 By BBC Security Correspondent Frank Gardner 
 
 Unseen by the public, Yulia Skripal was discreetly discharged from hospital in Salisbury last night, hours ahead of this morning's announcement. 
 
 She is understood to have been taken to a secure location somewhere in Britain while discussions take place over her future safety and protection. 
 
 For the UK government this could prove to be a delicate diplomatic problem. She is a Russian citizen and Moscow has been pressing for consular access. 
 
 But it is by no means clear where she will want to settle given her narrow escape from death in this failed assassination attempt on her and her father, Sergei. 
 
 Whitehall officials say reports that the Skripals are to be given a new identity in the US are premature. 
 
 Samples of the nerve agent have been tested by the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory at Porton Down in Wiltshire, in an attempt to verify its source. 
 
 Its head said the precise source of the nerve agent had not been verified, but it was likely to have been deployed by a "state actor". 
 
 A diplomatic crisis between Russia and the West has followed, with more than 20 countries expelling Russian envoys in solidarity with the UK. 
 
 Russia's request for a new, joint investigation was voted down at the international chemical weapons watchdog at The Hague on 4 April. 
 
 Image caption Yulia and Sergei Skripal were taken to Salisbury District Hospital after being found slumped on a bench in Salisbury 
 
 Mr Skripal is a retired military intelligence officer who was convicted of passing the identities of Russian intelligence agents working undercover in Europe to the UK's Secret Intelligence Service, MI6. 
 
 He was jailed for 13 years by Russia in 2006, but was released in 2010 as part of an exchange for 10 Russian spies arrested by the FBI. 
 
 Ms Skripal regularly travelled between the UK and Moscow, and had returned from Russia the day before the pair were poisoned. 
 
 Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption BBC Rewind looks back at cases of high-profile Russians targeted on foreign soil 
 
 After Ms Skripal was discharged, her cousin, Viktoria Skripal, told Russian news agency Interfax that Ms Skripal planned to ask for political asylum during a press conference - although she does not know in which country. 
 
 Viktoria Skripal has been refused a UK visa to visit her relatives. 
 
 The Home Office said the application did not comply with immigration rules, but a government source told the BBC it appears Russia is "trying to use Viktoria as a pawn". 
 
 Viktoria later told the BBC she did not have enough money in her bank account to satisfy the visa requirements. ||||| A FORMER KGB agent may have been unwittingly poisoned by his daughter after she opened a "gift from friends" as they ate in a restaurant, it was claimed last night. 
 
 Anti-terror cops are investigating the possibility that Kremlin-linked assassins slipped deadly sarin nerve gas into Sergei Skripal's present as daughter Yulia prepared to fly over from Moscow days earlier. 
 
 London News Pictures 10 Investigators were forced to wear heavy protective suits to guard against the deadly nerve agent 
 
 Another theory being probed is that the gas was sprayed into their faces or slipped into their drinks in a Salisbury restaurant. 
 
 The pair were later found slumped on a bench near a shopping centre by a hero cop who was also admitted to hospital after coming into contact with the poison. 
 
 But today Amber Rudd confirmed that the brave cop was on the mend, and he was "engaged and talking." 
 
 But docs fear that former military intelligence officer Skripal is on the brink of death. 
 
 A Whitehall source told The Times: “The feeling is that he is not going to make it out of this. 
 
 What we know so far: 
 
 AFP or licensors 10 Former double agent Sergei Skripal, who spied for Britain, is fighting for his life after a suspected poison plot 
 
 AP:Associated Press 10 Yulia Skripal and her dad, ex-Russian spy Sergei Skripal, 66, were found slumped unconscious on a bench in Salisbury on Sunday 
 
 New CCTV of ex-Russian spy Sergei Skripal buying groceries and scratchcards days before he was 'victim of poison attack' in Salisbury 
 
 Police ​officer who was a first responder to Sergei Skripal and his daughter is now ill in hospital after they were targeted with a 'nerve agent' in Salisbury 
 
 “I think it could be more positive [for Yulia]. They are hopeful that she might be able to pull through. 
 
 The police officer’s condition is thought to be less severe than the other two patients. 
 
 The Russian pair were "targeted specifically" when they were dosed by a deadly nerve agent, Assistant Commissioner Mark Rowley confirmed this afternoon. 
 
 All the sites involved in the investigation are now secured - but a police presence may stay in Salisbury for at least a couple of days, Mr Rowley added. 
 
 Poisoned Russian ex-spy Sergei Skripal was shunned by other exiles as he 'saw Kremlin officers once a month' 
 
 Last night security sources told The Sun that the poison could only have been produced in a handful of labs worldwide - including the Russian government's notorious Yasenevo complex. 
 
 Tory MP and ex-Army officer Bob Seely said: “In my mind now, there is now no doubt this was a hit ordered by Putin, and by using something complex they’re effectively showing off. 
 
 “We’re now in public execution territory. The Russians are basically saying, they don’t care who knows it was them. It is a very alarming development.” 
 
 Hamish de Bretton-Gordon, ex-commander of the Army’s chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear regiment, said: “All the circumstances point in the direction of sarin. It’s very toxic and the symptoms displayed tally with its effects.” 
 
 The signs a person has been exposed to nerve gas Although it is not yet known exactly what substance was used, the most well-known are potent VX or sarin - a highly toxic nerve agent that can kill even in the smallest of doses. Those who have been exposed may experience: runny nose 
 
 watery eyes 
 
 small pupils 
 
 eye pain 
 
 blurred vision 
 
 drooling and excessive sweating 
 
 a cough 
 
 tightness in the chest 
 
 rapid breathing 
 
 diarrhoea 
 
 nausea and vomiting 
 
 weeing more often 
 
 confusion 
 
 drowsiness 
 
 weakness 
 
 headache 
 
 slow or fast heart rate 
 
 low or high blood pressure 
 
 loss of consciousness 
 
 convulsions 
 
 paralysis 
 
 respiratory failure leading to death 
 
 It comes as a fellow Russian exile Valery Morozov claimed that Skripal was not in fact retired - and regularly met with Kremlin officials at the Russian Embassy. 
 
 He told Channel 4 News: “If you have a military intelligence officer living after retirement in the UK every month going to the embassy to meet military intelligence officers... for me being political refugee, I thought that this contact might not be very good for me because it can bring some questions from British officials." 
 
 Last night it was claimed that Skripal was close to a security consultant who worked for the company that compiled the explosive "dirty dossier" on Donald Trump. 
 
 According to the Daily Telegraph, the unnamed consultant lived near Skripal and knew him for some time. 
 
 NHS workers in hazardous material protective suits after former Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter were taken ill in Salisbury 
 
 Solent News 10 Forensics cops wearing protective gear scoured the Great Western Ambulance Service building 
 
 Forensic cops wearing protective clothing and masks were tonight scouring the Great Western Ambulance Service building in Odstock Road, near Salisbury after it was evacuated. 
 
 Police are also appealing for "vital" evidence from the public including any photos or video taken in Salisbury town centre on Sunday. 
 
 Earlier footage obtained by ITV showed the ex-spy buying milk, sausages and scratchcards from a store 10 minutes walk from his home on February 27. 
 
 Shopkeeper Ebru Ozturk told the Mirror: "He would come into the shop a couple of times a week and he always bought his scratchcards. He loved to buy them, I think he loved to gamble." 
 
 Solent News 10 The ambulance building was emptied of staff before specialists in protective clothing searched the area 
 
 Getty Images - Getty 10 Assistant Commissioner Mark Rowley said the first officer on the scene of the poisoning is seriously ill 
 
 AP:Associated Press 10 A forensic tent at the scene in Salisbury where the ex-Russian spy and his daughter were found 
 
 A decontamination zone remains in Salisbury with officers extending the cordon this morning to Solstice Park in Amesbury. 
 
 Counter-terror cops from Scotland Yard took over from Wiltshire Police to work out who was behind the poisoning as fingers point to Moscow. 
 
 They are also probing the death of Skripal's paratrooper brother - who passed away in Russia at 68 after a dramatic weight loss in the months before his death - and his son Alexander. 
 
 Alexander is thought to have been struck down by liver disease in August 2017, while mum Liudmila died of cancer in 2012 - sparking fears the whole family was targeted by Russian assassins. 
 
 ITV 10 Sergei was seen chatting to the shopkeeper after buying groceries 
 
 Two women were today escorted into an ambulance from offices next door to Zizzi where the dad and daughter dined before they were poisoned. 
 
 Footage shows the pair being taken away by emergency services this afternoon. 
 
 Fire crews, paramedics and cops raced to Sarum House at 1.30pm today. 
 
 Many of the 100 workers inside were not allowed to leave and those who had gone out on a lunch-break were prevented from re-entering the offices. 
 
 Shortly after the building was flooded with emergency services and two women were escorted to waiting ambulances and driven away. 
 
 Solent News 10 A woman is escorted out of the offices next to Zizzi restaurant 
 
 Solent News 10 The women were escorted out of the offices and into an ambulance in dramatic fashion 
 
 Skripal, a former colonel, was jailed in Russia in 2006 for passing Russian secrets to MI6. 
 
 He was released in a spy exchange in 2010 and settled in Salisbury, Wilts. 
 
 Cops are now also investigating the deaths of Sergei's wife and son. 
 
 While Lyudmila's death certificate reads that she died of cancer, neighbours claim she was killed in a car crash. 
 
 Son Alexandr is said to have also perished in a St Petersburg car smash - yet close family members say he passed away after a battle with liver problems. 
 
 It comes after Yulia dared to openly criticise Vladimir Putin on Facebook, suggesting that jailing the president would be a "great idea". 
 
 She exchanged anti-Putin chat with a pal on social media, it has emerged. 
 
 Yulia wrote “nice” on a note posted by a friend. 
 
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 The note read: “I want to put into jail Vladimir Putin because I think that he is the worst president in the world. 
 
 “He’s stolen so much money that they can feed a small starving country." 
 
 It ends: "I think that with his passing our country will live much better." 
 
 We pay for your stories! Do you have a story for The Sun Online news team? Email us at tips@the-sun.co.uk or call 0207 782 4368 . We pay for videos too. Click here to upload yours. ||||| Viktoria Skripal not hopeful about former Russian spy and daughter in nerve agent attack 
 
 The niece of the poisoned former Russian spy Sergei Skripal has said he and his daughter Yulia have only a slim chance of surviving. 
 
 Viktoria Skripal said the prognosis for both “really isn’t good” following the novichok nerve agent attack in Salisbury, Wiltshire, on 4 March. 
 
 She told the BBC: “Out of 99% I have maybe 1% of hope. Whatever it was has given them a very small chance of survival. But they’re going to be invalids for the rest of their lives.” 
 
 
 
 Salisbury health risks assessed as £1m aid package approved Read more 
 
 She also revealed that Skripal’s mother had not been told of the incident, adding: “The first priority was to protect our granny so that she wouldn’t hear or find out anything.” 
 
 Countries across the world have joined the UK in taking diplomatic action against Russia, which has been blamed for the attack. 
 
 Theresa May said the “unprecedented series of expulsions” of Russian diplomats sent a strong message to Moscow that it could not ignore international law. 
 
 Briefing the cabinet on Tuesday, the prime minister reported that 23 countries had expelled more than 115 Russian intelligence diplomats. She told her colleagues this demonstrated to the Kremlin “that we will not tolerate their attempts to flout international law, undermine our values or threaten our security”. 
 
 The Russian embassy in the UK said the prime minister had still not presented evidence that the country was responsible for the poisonings, adding that “no one in the wider world would take British words for granted”. 
 
 May wants west to develop long-term response to Russia Read more 
 
 On Wednesday, Ireland became the 24th country to join the the UK in taking diplomatic action against the Kremlin. 
 
 Nato announced it was cutting the size of its Russian mission by a third, removing accreditation from seven Russian staff and rejecting three other pending applications. Jens Stoltenberg, Nato’s secretary general, said the permanent size of the Russian mission would be cut from 30 to 20 people, adding that the gesture was “a clear and very strong message that there was a cost to Russia’s reckless actions”.
– Theresa May predicted that ex-spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia may never fully recover after being poisoned with a nerve agent March 4 in Salisbury, England. Now a family member tells the BBC, via the Guardian, that the outlook for the pair "really isn't good" and that her family has kept news of what happened from Skripal's own mother. "I have maybe 1% of hope," Viktoria Skripal, the ex-spy's niece, says. "Whatever it was has given them a very small chance of survival." And if they do make it, she adds, "they're going to be invalids for the rest of their lives." Still, she says that even though "we are all grown up and … don't believe in miracles," her family is still hoping for one, per Sky News. (The UK believes the poison path leads right back to the Kremlin.)