Russia has significantly increased its use of banned chemical weapons during the war in Ukraine, including the asphyxiating gas chloropicrin - a substance used since World War I. This was announced by Dutch Defense Minister Ruben Brekelmans and the head of military intelligence Peter Reesink in an interview with Reuters, News.bg reports.
According to them, Dutch services have collected independent evidence that Russia is using chloropicrin systematically - mainly through improvised munitions launched from drones. The aim is to draw Ukrainian soldiers out of hiding and make them vulnerable to fire.
“These are no longer isolated incidents, but part of a large-scale program to develop and use chemical weapons,“ Reesink said. He added that Russia was expanding its scientific capacity in this direction, including through active recruitment of scientists, and that Moscow's use of chemicals was becoming “a common practice of warfare”.
Minister Brekelmans called for new sanctions against Russia and insisted that it be excluded from the executive bodies of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW). Although the OPCW has not yet conducted a formal investigation, Dutch authorities insist that the international community must act to prevent the practice from becoming established.
Ukrainian authorities have reported more than 9,000 cases of chemical weapons use since the start of the war, including at least three deaths and more than 2,500 injuries with characteristic symptoms. Russia, for its part, denies the accusations and says Ukraine is stockpiling chloropicrin in the east of the country.