- Russia is launching chemical weapons attacks against Ukrainian forces, The Telegraph reported.
- The report said Russia is using the weapons to create panic before launching attacks.
- Russia is a signatory of the convention banning chemical weapons.
Russia is launching daily attacks on Ukrainian positions using prohibited chemical weapons, The Telegraph reported.
According to the report, citing front-line Ukrainian troops, Russian forces are using the weapons in a bid to create panic before launching attacks on Ukrainian positions.
The report said Russia is using drones to drop grenades filled with CS gas, a chemical agent whose use in war is banned under the Chemical Weapons Convention.
Ihor, the commander of a Ukrainian reconnaissance team who is deployed near the front line city of Chasiv Yar, in Donetsk, east Ukraine, told the outlet that Russian forces are finding it difficult to dislodge Ukrainian forces using artillery, so are using poison gas.
“Their first instinct is to get out,” he said of Ukrainian troops subjected to the attacks, meaning they can then be attacked by other weapons after breaking cover.
The Telegraph said a chemical weapons expert, Marc-Michael Blum, had verified that a grenade used by Russia on the battlefield was a CS gas canister.
The report also cited unverified claims that Russia is using deadlier chemical agents, including chlorine, chloropicrin, and hydrogen cyanide, all of which can be fatal.
Ukraine on Friday claimed that it had recorded 1,412 cases in which harmful chemical substances were discovered in ammunition from February 2023 to March 2024.
The attacks, Ukraine said, are becoming more frequent.
Ukraine’s armed forces said in a Facebook post that in March, there were 371 cases alone, 90 more than during the previous period.
Business Insider has contacted the Russian Ministry of Defense for comment.
Last year, a Russian military unit, Black Sea Fleet’s 810th Naval Infantry Brigade, openly boasted of using CS gas in attacks on Ukrainian troops, posting a video of gas canisters being dropped by drones to smoke out Ukrainian troops from their positions, reported the Kyiv Post.
Ukrainian forces are battling to prevent Russia from breaking through its defensive positions in the east and south of the country.
Russia is intensifying its attacks, with Ukrainian forces running low on ammunition amid a block of a $60 billion US aid bill by Republicans in Congress.
On Sunday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy urged the US to approve more funding and warned that Ukraine would “lose the war” without it.
