Russians use chemical weapons in Donetsk direction

This was reported by Oleksiy Dmytrashkivskyi, Tavria region Defense Forces spokesman, Ukrinform reports.

"Russians use chemical munitions — they are dropping explosives with chloropicrin from unmanned aerial vehicles. This is not the first time, it has been happening since March 23rd. On March 23, they tried dropping one explosive, on March 24 — two, and yesterday six such explosives were dropped," said Dmytrashkivskyi.

Regarding the evidence collection of the prohibited weapons used by the Russians, the military officer spoke about the drone in the Zaporizhzhia region and noted that they might also use mustard gas.

"These were the first such cases a month ago — unexploded K-51 ammunition. At the moment, regarding the explosions that are taking place in the Donetsk direction, it is impossible to collect the gas, but if it falls directly into a trench or a dugout, then accordingly, you need to either have a gas mask or move away from that place because it causes both vomiting and tears. But there is also mustard gas ammunition. In this case you need chemical protection suits," said Dmytrashkivskyi.

The military also added that in the area of ​​Avdiivka and Marinka, the 200th Motorized Rifle Brigade of the Russian Federation and the 72nd Brigade from Orenburg suffered heavy losses, which raised the question of their withdrawal for recovery.

Reference: K-51 — Developed in the 1970s in the USSR, a manual non-lethal aerosol "tear gas" grenade, created for the military and special services; it is more powerful than grenades used for dispersing protesters.

At the same time, the use of chemical agents (in particular, tear agents) to wage war is prohibited by the Chemical Weapons Convention (Article 1, Clause 5) and the Geneva Protocol of 1925.

Mustard gas is a chemical weapon that was used in the First World War as a combat poison of skin-ablative action. In 1993, the Chemical Weapons Convention banned the use of mustard gas as a chemical weapon.

• In November 2022, Russia was not included in the governing body of the Chemical Weapons Convention for the first time in the history of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons.

• On December 9, 2022, at a meeting of the OSCE Permanent Council in Vienna, the European Union condemned the use of tear gas grenades by the Russian military.

• On February 27, 2023, the G7 countries declared that any use of chemical, biological, radiological or nuclear weapons by Russia would have serious consequences.