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Russian forces are systematically conducting a campaign of illegal chemical attacks against Ukrainian military personnel. The Telegraph reports on this matter.
As of January 13, according to the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Russia has carried out 626 chemical attacks in Ukraine. Since the full-scale invasion by the Russian Federation into Ukraine, 1412 instances of the use of munitions containing chemical substances have been identified.
According to Ukrainian military sources, the Russian army most frequently uses grenades such as K-51 and RGR, which are dropped from drones. However, improvised explosive devices equipped with irritant substances are also employed, along with artillery shelling using projectiles containing chemically hazardous materials.
The regular use of chemical weapons by Russian forces is corroborated by The Telegraph’s investigation. They spoke with several Ukrainian soldiers stationed along the front lines, who detailed how their positions are attacked almost daily by small drones, from which Russians often release tear gas and other chemical agents.
The use of such gas, known as CS (2-Chlorobenzalmalononitrile, also known as “Lilac” gas), is prohibited during wartime under the Chemical Weapons Convention and is typically used by special forces.
“Igor, commander of a Ukrainian reconnaissance group near the town of Chasiv Yar in the Donetsk region, told the publication, ‘Almost every one of our positions on the front receives one or two gas grenades every day.'”
The strategy of Russian forces revolves around using chemical weapons to “smoke out” Ukrainian soldiers from their fortified positions, after which the Russians launch attacks with conventional weaponry.
An American military medic and qualified nurse, Rebecca Machiorovski, serving in the Ukrainian Armed Forces, provided The Telegraph with one of the Russian CS gas grenades for verification. Machiorovski is regularly summoned to provide medical assistance to Ukrainian military personnel in three brigades with which she works in the Donetsk region, following what she describes as systematic attacks using chemical weapons.
Expert in chemical weapons and former head of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) laboratory, Mark-Michael Blum, confirmed that the discovered munition belonged to the gas grenade K-51, which typically contains tear gas.
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