YULIA Skripal has broken her silence, describing how her strength is "growing daily" following the nerve agent attack which left her and her father fighting for their lives in hospital intensive care.

The 33-year-old’s first public comments since the March 4 attack in Salisbury were released shortly after Russian television reported that she had contacted her cousin Viktoria in Moscow to say she and her father Sergei, 66, were recovering and that she would soon be discharged from hospital.

Russia has appealed for the UK to issue visas for relatives to visit the Skripals in hospital in Salisbury, where they are being treated for exposure to Novichok.

Moscow has called for a meeting of the United Nations Security Council tonight to discuss the incident with Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov denouncing UK suggestions of Russian involvement as “fairy tales” and saying London has "legitimate questions" to answer about what happened.

However, Ben Wallace, the Security Minister insisted it was "beyond reasonable doubt" that Russia was to blame for the attack.

In her statement, released by Scotland Yard, Ms Skripal said: “I woke up over a week ago now and am glad to say my strength is growing daily. I am grateful for the interest in me and for the many messages of goodwill that I have received."

She thanked healthcare workers at Salisbury District Hospital as well as "the people of Salisbury that came to my aid when my father and I were incapacitated".

Ms Skripal added: "I am sure you appreciate that the entire episode is somewhat disorientating and I hope that you'll respect my privacy and that of my family during the period of my convalescence."

Earlier, Russian media reported that Ms Skripal had told her cousin that her father was "alright", adding: "Everyone is recovering, everyone survived...No irreparable harm was done. That's all, I will soon be discharged from the hospital."

At a press conference in London, Alexander Yakovenko, the Russian ambassador, said Yulia's sister had been waiting for two days for a visa to come to Britain to visit her in hospital.

"We believe this is a humanitarian case and we could expect that the visa would be issued as fast as possible. Everything is in the hands of the British Government."

Mr Yakovenko stressed how he would "meet personally" with Viktoria Skripal "when she comes to London".

He complained that the Foreign Office was "not answering our notes" and was giving little or no information about the Skripals.

"No information about Yulia Skripal, we don't know about Sergei. This is our people; they're Russian citizens," he declared.

But the Foreign Office noted: "We have conveyed to Ms Skripal the Russian Embassy's offer of consular assistance. Ms Skripal is now able to choose if and when to take up this offer but to date she has not done so."

Meanwhile, the war of words between London and Moscow continued.

Mr Yakovenko again denied his country had produced Novichok and hit out at Boris Johnson's claim that Russia had maintained a stockpile of the nerve agent "likely for assassination".

He insisted this was "untrue,” “not supported by any evidence,” and “unacceptable".

The ambassador noted how there was "a lot of suspicion about Britain" in relation to a string of deaths of Russian citizens over the past decade.

Earlier, Mr Lavrov denounced UK “fairy tales” over Salisbury while his deputy Sergei Ryabkov said there was "no trust in Great Britain, it is impossible to trust London" after its continuous "misconduct" and unacceptable rhetoric against Russia.

Last night, the Foreign Secretary hit back. Taking to social media, he tweeted: “Yesterday, Russia failed to persuade OPCW that they, the chief suspect, should join an investigation of attempted assassinations in Salisbury.

"Today's gambit is to rope the UN Security Council into their disinformation campaign. The world will see through this shameless cynicism."