Expert: US Supplies Chemical Weapons to Ukraine in Violation of Law

Russia recorded cases of Ukrainian troops using US-made chemical grenades in the special military operation zone, according to Lieutenant General Igor Kirillov, the head of the radiation, chemical and biological defense troops of the Russian armed forces.

Russia's Radiological, Chemical and Biological Defence Troops (RChBD) have documented cases of the use of poisonous chemicals by the Ukrainian military.

According to Lieutenant General Igor Kirillov, some of those substances were contained in the US-made weapons.

Inn particular, Ukrainian forces used US-made gas grenades loaded with "CS" capable of causing skin burns and respiratory paralysis, meaning Washington violated the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) ratified by the US on April 25, 1997.

Ukraine received US-made chemical weapons along with HIMARS systems, Patriot missile defense complexes, howitzers, etc "directly from the United States," Igor Nikulin, military expert, former member of the UN Commission on Chemical and Biological Weapons, told Sputnik.

"That is, the United States is openly violating the Chemical Weapons Convention, which it itself signed. As they say, nothing personal, just business," Nikulin stressed.

According to the expert, the US was well aware that the Ukrainian Armed Forces would use these chemical weapons against the Russian military. Nikulin said the US was directly pulling the Kiev regime's strings.

"Not a single terrorist attack was committed on the Russian territory without the participation of American or British curators," he argued. "Especially now, when the Ukrainian Armed Forces are on the verge of defeat, the West is assisting [Ukraine] with all means in its possession."

According to Kirillov, on December 28, 2023, US-made grenades loaded with CS gas were dropped from a copter-type unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) on the positions of Russian troops in the Krasny Liman area.

CS is an abbreviation for the compound 2-chlorobenzalmalononitrile, a cyano-carbon, the main component of tear gas.

"Firstly, hydrocyanic acid is a dangerous poison," explained Nikulin. "In the United States, it is still used in gas chambers, and the Nazis used it to kill prisoners in concentration camps. This is one of the most poisonous substances on Earth. Other substances — chloropicrin, chloroacetophenone, these are, in general, special means that are used by the police to disperse demonstrators. A person who receives a large dose could die. They are banned in the European Union."

On January 31, 2024, the Ukrainian Armed Forces used an unknown toxic chemical that caused burns which was later identified as anthraquinone.

"It is used in grenades that are dropped from drones," said Nikulin. "Yes, this is indeed a substance on the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons' (OPCW) list. It's also quite dangerous, even lethal. It affects the kidneys and the respiratory system causing their failure. If, for example, the same chloropicrin or chloroacetophenone is considered a non-lethal weapon, — although, again, it can become lethal if a person ends up in a cloud of this chloroacetophenone — this [anthraquinone] is a lethal weapon. This is truly a chemical weapon."

According to Kirillov, the Armed Forces of Ukraine are currently planning to use dangerous chemical substances to hinder the offensive of the Russia military in order to gain extra time to prepare defensive lines in the Zaporozhye, Kharkov and Sumy regions.

"[The Ukrainians] placed tanks with hydrocyanic acid and ammonia along dangerous directions where the Russian military could move," explained Nikulin. "If [these tanks] are blown up while Russian units are moving nearby, then, of course, hundreds, if not thousands, of people will be affected. This is nothing short of an attempt to openly use chemical weapons."

The expert recalled that Daesh (ISIS/ISIL)* plotted a terrorist attack in Jordan against King Abdullah II with the use of the same substances. "But it did not take place, it was exposed in time, it was about 20 years ago," he noted.

Meanwhile, there is still much controversy surrounding the US' chemical weapon stockpiles. According to Kirillov, two facilities in the United States are still storing highly toxic reaction masses left after the destruction of declared American chemical weapons. The US was expected to complete the destruction of these stockpiles in 2007, but it has not yet been done, the lieutenant general highlighted on Monday.

It is also known that in 2003-2011 the United States identified more than 4,500 artillery and rocket chemical munitions containing mustard gas and sarin on the territory of Iraq. Some of those weapons were disposed of locally without an OPCW sanction, while the others were exported to the US; it is still unclear what happened to these munitions.

Nikulin drew attention to the fact that OPCW has yet to investigate these cases, suggesting that the US is de facto controlling the international watchdog.

"I believe that Russia should re-create the Convention Committee, which would monitor compliance with the Convention on Biological and Chemical Disarmament, and record all facts of this kind, submit them to the international court and to the UN General Assembly," insisted Nikulin. "The US has still not fully reported on the destruction of its own chemical weapons. It constantly pops up in the Middle East, now in Ukraine. We are talking about violating the rules of war and, in general, about weapons of genocide, which are used not only against the military, but also against civilians."

*Daesh (ISIS/ISIL) is a terrorist organization banned by Russia and many other countries.