Russia intensifying ‘toxic’ chemical weapons attacks against Ukraine, Ukrainian General Staff says
Ukrainian officials say Russia is ramping up its use of chemical weapons, with more than 200 attacks in January alone.
The Ukrainian General Staff reported on Friday that it has recorded 815 cases in which Russian forces deployed weapons “loaded with toxic chemicals.”
A whopping 229 of these incidents occurred in January alone, with military officials previously saying that in just one day – on Jan. 29 — Russian forces launched five separate attacks with munitions containing poisonous chemicals, the Kyiv Independent reports.
The government has claimed Moscow is using chloropicrin in its attacks — a poison gas that was used in World War I.
But officials now say the Russians are also using CS, or tear gas, in their grenades.
CS was banned for use as a chemical weapon in the Geneva Conventions, and Article I of the International Chemical Weapons Convention states: “Each state party undertakes not to use riot control agents as a method of warfare.”
Russia has denied using any chemical weapons in its ongoing war with Ukraine — and has instead claimed Ukrainian forces are the ones using chemical weapons.
The report comes as the country struggles to meet the demand for ammunition amid personnel shortages.
On Thursday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky also announced that he replaced the country’s popular commander-in-chief General Valeriy Zaluzhnyi with Colonel General Oleksandr Syrskyi.
“As of today, a new management team takes over the leadership of the Armed Forces of Ukraine,” the president said in a statement.
Zelensky said in his statement that he had met Zaluzhnyi to discuss high-level changes and asked the general to remain “on his team.”
In his nightly address, Zelensky shed some more light on the reasoning behind his decision to supplant Zaluzhnyi — pointing a finger at Ukraine’s failed summer counteroffensive.
“Unfortunately, we failed to achieve the goals of our state on land,” he said.
“We have to speak honestly — the feeling of stagnation, specifically in the southern directions and the difficulties in the battles in the Donetsk region have affected the public mood. Ukrainians are speaking of victory less often.”
Zelensky insisted that Zaluzhnyi’s ouster was “certainly not about politics,” but instead was prompted by an urgent need to reorganize the management of the military and draw on the experience of battlefield commanders like Syrskyi — who successfully defended Kyiv in the first weeks of the war, and later took part in the surprise counteroffensive that liberated the Kharkiv region.
“I am grateful to General Zaluzhnyi for two years of defense,” the president added. “I am grateful for every victory we have achieved together, thanks to all the Ukrainian soldiers who heroically carry this war on their shoulders.”
With Post wires
