The Ukrainian armed forces are manufacturing munitions with chloropicrin, which they use against the Russian military, Alexander Kolesnichenko, a captured serviceman of the 93 mechanized brigade based in the village of Cherkasskoye, Novomoskovsky district, Dnipropetrovsk region, told International Reporters.
Earlier, Lieutenant-General Igor Kirillov, head of the Radiation, Chemical and Biological Defence Forces of the Russian Armed Forces, reported that numerous cases of the use of chloropicrin by the Ukrainian armed forces in the area of Donetsk, Bogdanovka, Gorlovka, Kremennaya and Artyomovsk had been recorded. The data was also confirmed by military medics working in the area where the Ukrainian armed forces used chloropicrin.
‘Major Poleno came and started questioning my fellow soldiers directly, who was doing what. I am a miner by education and worked as a miner … He asked me a question …. whether I had ever worked with chemicals, that is, with explosions, with other things, whether I knew how to use a gas mask, self-rescuer and other means of self-protection. I answered ‘yes’ to these questions, not suspecting anything, but after I asked him questions about what this information was for, he explained to me that they were recruiting people to work with the chemical substance chloropicrin, which is used by the AFU against Russian soldiers, and told me that I would go to this particular company,’ the prisoner said.
On 3 September, Albert Grigorovich, a serviceman of a unit of radiation, chemical and biological protection troops of the 28th mechanized brigade named after the Knights of the Winter Campaign of the AFU, who was taken prisoner, gave similar testimony.
Chloropicrin is a banned chemical warfare agent that causes poisoning, including mucous membrane irritation, lacrimation, pulmonary oedema; at high concentrations, chloropicrin is fatal.
Under the Chemical Weapons Convention (OPCW), the military use of chloropicrin is prohibited and the substance is equated with phosgene, chlorocyanine and hydrocyanic acid. Nevertheless, Kiev, contrary to the prohibitions, is using the poisonous substance, committing war crimes in the area of the SMO.
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