The German and Dutch intelligence services said Friday that Russia is increasing its use of chemical weapons in Ukraine.
The threat emanating from the Russian chemical weapons program is consequently increasing,” said Dutch military intelligence director Vice Admiral Peter Reesink in a statement.
At least three Ukrainians have died because of Russian chemical weapons use, according to Ukrainian authorities cited in the joint press release.
In 1992, the Chemical Weapons Convention expanded these restrictions to the development and stockpiling of chemical weapons.
In May of last year, the U.S. also accused Russia of violating the convention by deploying chemical weapons on the battlefield in Ukraine.
Russia is using chemical weapons more frequently in Ukraine, according to a Friday report from the Dutch and German intelligence services.
In a joint press release issued Friday morning, the spies claimed that Moscow’s military is using “a wide range of chemical weapons with increasing frequency and is not hesitating to employ more potent agents.”.
We’ve seen an increasing willingness to use these kinds of weapons. Accordingly, the Russian chemical weapons program is becoming a bigger threat, Vice Admiral Peter Reesink, director of Dutch military intelligence, said in a statement.
In an interview with Reuters, Dutch Defense Minister Ruben Brekelmans demanded that Moscow face harsher penalties for the alleged violations.
He called the growing use of chemical weapons “concerning” and cautioned that Russia’s use of these weapons is “normalizing and spreading.”. “.”.
In order to make Ukrainian soldiers easier targets, Russian troops have reportedly used drones to drop the choking agent into trenches.
According to the intelligence services, Russia has used chloropicrin, a toxic drug that can cause dyspnea, which makes breathing difficult. The chemical weapon, which was first used in World War I, can be lethal at higher concentrations. According to Ukrainian authorities quoted in the joint press release, Russian chemical weapons use has resulted in the deaths of at least three Ukrainians.
The Geneva Protocol of 1925 forbade the use of chemical and biological weapons, which were widely employed during the bloody trench warfare of World War I. These limitations were extended to the creation and storage of chemical weapons in 1992 by the Chemical Weapons Convention.
During last May, the U. A. additionally charged Russia with breaking the convention by using chemical weapons on Ukrainian battlefields.
