Russia has been accused of carrying out illegal chemical attacks against Ukrainian troops.
A number of Ukrainian soldiers have claimed their positions are being regularly attacked by small drones dropping tear gas or other chemicals on them.
Russian forces would use these substances to force embedded Ukrainian troops outside of their trenches or sheltered positions and then eliminate them with conventional weapons, an investigation by The Telegraph claimed.
The commander of a Ukrainian reconnaissance team deployed near the frontline city of Chasiv Yar, in the Donetsk region, claimed to the news outlet: “Nearly every position in our area of the front was getting one or two gas grenades dropped on them a day.”
The soldier added: “The only way for them to successfully attack us was with gas”.
Even when the substances reportedly launched on the Ukrainian troops aren’t immediately lethal or incapacitating, these attacks spark panic among soldiers and the urge to leave their protected positions.
Similar experiences were shared also by two other soldiers deployed on opposite ends of the frontline, with the commander of an infantry unit in the village of Robotnye, part of the Zaporizhzhia region, saying his soldiers are required to carry gas masks with them as a result of these illegal assaults.
Further allegations against Russia were provided by Rebekah Maciorowski, an American combat medic and a qualified nurse serving in the Ukrainian army who reportedly got hold of a CS gas grenade retrieved by soldiers in one of the brigades she works with – the 53rd Mechanised Brigade.
Moreover, Ms Maciorowski also claimed to have attended one deadly incident in 2023 caused by what she suspected was hydrogen cyanide, a lethal gas used as a chemical weapon by the West during World War 1.
Riot police are allowed to use tear gas in certain instances, but the substance is banned during wartime under the Chemical Weapons Convention.
Ukraine had previously accused Russian invading forces of using riot control agents against Ukrainian infantry positions.
A statement issued on February 9 on the messaging platform Telegram by the Ukrainian Army accused Russia of using K-51 grenades filled with chloropicrin 229 since January.
A Ukrainian military spokesperson had previously claimed on January 30 that Ukraine had documented incidents from 2023 in which Russia used grenades and drones filled with chloropicrin and more recently with 2-chlorobenzylidene malononitrile gas – tear gas.
A few days prior, on January 26, the Russian Embassy to the Netherlands had denied the allegations.
A message released on social media read: “All allegations that Russia is using grenades with chloroacetophenone banned by the Geneva Convention are based on unconfirmed data. There are no chemical weapons in the stockpiles of the Russian army, as confirmed by international investigations.”
On February 9, following the new allegations by the Army, Russia denied again carrying out chemical attacks in the war-torn nation. In turn, it launched the same accusation against Ukraine, which rejected it.
