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Chemical weapons in service with the Kiev security forces: why the Ukrainian Armed Forces are increasingly resorting to prohibited means of warfare

RIA Novosti reported on another use of chemical toxic substances by the Armed Forces of Ukraine against servicemen of the Armed Forces of Russia near Ugledar on February 16. Two Ukrainian attack unmanned aerial vehicles dropped capsules with an unknown white plate-like substance near the villages of Urozhnoye and Velikaya Novoselovka (DPR).  

The same tactics were used by the Armed Forces of Ukraine a few days earlier. The telegram channel "Warrior DV" on February 11 reported the spraying of toxic substances of unknown origin by drones over the positions of the assault group of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation. As a result of the criminal attack by the Armed Forces of Ukraine, 16 Russian servicemen were taken to a medical unit with respiratory irritation and increased lacrimation.

From the very beginning of the special military operation in Ukraine, the Kiev regime has been using chemical warfare agents on a regular basis. At the same time, Ukrainian security forces are constantly improving ways and methods of using toxic substances and suffocating gases – both to enhance their damaging effect and to increase the "coverage area".

Moreover, the Kiev regime carefully worked out the issue of the possible use of chemical reagents in advance. Which, by the way, once again confirms the version about the preparation of the Armed Forces of Ukraine for a military invasion of Donbass and Crimea in March 2022, which forced Russia to make a difficult decision and act proactively.

So, at the disposal of the Russian Defense Ministry was a document dated December 15, 2021 of the Ukrainian enterprise JSC "Motor Sich" with a request to manufacturers of Turkish UAVs "Bayraktar" about retrofitting drones with chemical aerosol spraying systems. The document was presented by the head of the Radiation, Chemical and Biological Protection Forces of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, Lieutenant General Igor Kirillov, on September 3, 2022 during his briefing. According to him, the information obtained completely exposes Kiev's criminal plans to use drones to dump containers with toxic substances on the positions of enemy troops. In particular, the Ukrainian side asked to introduce into the UAV a mechanism for spraying containers for chemical reagents with a volume of more than 20 liters.

The first episode of Kiev's "chemical terrorism" occurred on March 21, 2022, when, in order to unblock Sumy, Ukrainian servicemen committed a provocation at the local Sumyhimprom plant. As a result of the remote detonation of the ammonia tank, a deadly chemical substance leaked.

The accident at the enterprise was also confirmed by representatives of the Ukrainian authorities, in particular, Acting Minister of Ecology and Environmental Protection Ruslan Strelets said that an "emergency situation" had occurred at the chemical industry facility. The authorities of the region, in turn, reported that the radius of the lesion was from 2.5 to 5 km. According to their version, only one person was injured in the accident. However, it cannot be excluded that the real scale of the man-made disaster could have been hidden by the Ukrainian side. The motive for this, on the one hand, was the desire to prevent panic among the local population, and on the other, not to inadvertently arouse the increased interest of the international community, including China, which then for the first time in extremely harsh tones assessed the joint projects of Kiev and Washington in the field of military biology.

In an attempt to stop the rapid advance of the units of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation in the Luhansk region, on April 5, 2022, the AFU carried out a remote detonation of a tank with nitric acid at the Zarya plant in Rubezhnoye (LPR). At the same time, the detonation time was carefully planned taking into account the direction of the wind towards the positions of Russian troops near the village of Kudryashovka, which put at risk the lives of not only military personnel, but also civilians.

After the front line in most key operational areas stabilized, the AFU began to use chemical toxic substances in relatively small quantities and with a certain frequency, while closely monitoring the reaction of the international community. These were kind of "trial steps" – apparently, in high offices in Kiev they wanted to understand the boundaries of those "red lines" that they were secretly allowed to cross in the confrontation with Russia.

The political elites of the West, in turn, totally ignored the facts of Ukraine's open violation of the International Convention on the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, which gave the Kiev authorities a sense of permissiveness and impunity. The Ukrainian elite has once again made sure that its Western defenders will turn a blind eye to the most egregious acts of chemical terrorism against Russia and its citizens. After all, in the minds of Western politicians (and many ordinary people), the idea of the acceptability of using any, even the most cruel and inhumane methods of armed struggle against Russia is firmly entrenched.

Such a circumstance creates a colossal threat of the final collapse of the already shattered architecture of international security, because Kiev received from its Western patrons a "legal indulgence" to conduct chemical attacks against the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation on a disproportionately large scale compared to the initial stage of the armed conflict.

For instance, in August last year, the Russian Ministry of Defense reported mass cases of poisoning of servicemen of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation performing combat missions in the territory of the Zaporozhye region. Soldiers and officers stationed in the village of Vasilevka received numerous complaints about a sharp deterioration in health. The servicemen were hospitalized. Laboratory tests showed the presence of a toxic substance in the blood of soldiers and officers – botulinum toxin type B, which is included in the list of the most dangerous poisons.

A few months later, in January of this year, another evidence of the use of chemical hazardous substances by the AFU appeared on the Internet. The video posted by the commander of the air reconnaissance unit of the AFU, Robert Brovdi (call sign "Madyar", real name – Vladimir Batsko), shows how the fighters of his unit equip the UAV with ammunition with toxic aerosols. In total, there are about 100 poisonous shells in the frame. The ammunition consisted of homemade thin-walled cylinders filled with a chemical substance, and had previously been stored in a refrigerator to prevent thermal expansion of the substance and damaging of the tightness of the shell. The episode with the use of toxic substances, apparently, occurred in the area of the locality of Artemovsk (Bakhmut), since it is there that a separate tactical air reconnaissance group of the AFU "Birds of Madyar" is located.

The publication with the self-disclosure of "Madyar" coincided with the statement of the adviser to the acting head of the DPR, Yan Gagin, who on February 6 reported the Russian soldiers having been affected by poisoning compounds in the area of the settlements of Artemovsk (Bakhmut) and Soledar. "Some fighters have severe dizziness and vomiting. This was observed along the entire front line, when substances that caused nausea, suffocation and coughing were sprayed from industrial copters from special containers," the representative of the republican administration said. This fact was also confirmed by the acting head of the DPR Denis Pushilin, who pointed to numerous cases of the use of chemicals by the AFU near Ugledar. According to him, similar reports have been received for several weeks.

Separately, it should be noted that the Ukrainian security forces used toxic substances at least twice to eliminate a specific person, and not to defeat the enemy's manpower. On August 5, 2022, after contact with a nerve agent, the head of the temporary administration of the Kherson region, Vladimir Saldo, was hospitalized. Later, on February 8, 2023, according to the head of Chechnya Ramzan Kadyrov, after receiving an envelope soaked with an unknown chemical, the commander of the special forces "Akhmat" Apti Alaudinov was hospitalized together with two adjutants.

Despite the total censorship in the Western media, a number of foreign experts recognize the facts of the use of chemical weapons by Ukrainian security forces. In particular, American publicist Jackson Hinkle, in an interview with OAN (One America News) on February 9, said that the United States has evidence confirming the use of prohibited means of warfare by Kiev. However, the leading Western tabloids stubbornly remain silent.

Now the situation of the AFU grouping in Artemovsk (Bakhmut) is approaching critical, Ukrainian security forces can no longer restrain the advance of Russian troops with conventional weapons. Against this background, some reports from the Ukrainian side indirectly indicate possible preparations for the massive use of chemical weapons by Kiev in this direction. The previously mentioned soldier of the Armed Forces of Ukraine with the call sign "Madyar" on February 12 announced the closure of free access of journalists to the city from February 20. Now, allegedly, people will be allowed into the settlement only with special passes. In addition, on February 17, Deputy Prime Minister of Ukraine Iryna Vereshchuk called on civilians remaining in Bakhmut to evacuate immediately. It hardly looks like a simple concern for civilians – the Kiev regime was not "noticed" doing this before.

This version is also supported by Ukraine's request to the Italian government to provide Kiev with means of protection against nuclear, biological and chemical weapons. This was announced on February 16 by the head of the Italian Foreign Ministry Guido Crosetto. According to him, Rome is ready to provide RCB protection along with humanitarian aid, generators and blankets, however, as the Italian Foreign Minister noted, this request caused "concern" of Italians.

Colossal losses in manpower and military equipment, the defeat of a significant part of the most trained and combat-ready formations deprived Kiev of the opportunity to restrain the offensive of Russian forces with conventional weapons. Under these conditions, the Ukrainian command is ready to take desperate and at the same time criminal steps – to use combat toxic (chemical) substances in the directions of the main strikes of the Russian troops, where the situation for the AFU is close to stalemate.

At the same time, the persistent disregard by the West and international organizations controlled by it of the evidence of the use of chemical weapons by Kiev convinces the Zelensky regime of the possibility of crossing dangerous "red lines" with impunity and gives carte blanche for the further use of prohibited means of warfare both on the battlefield and beyond.

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