Dutch intel says Russia ups use of banned chemical weapons in Ukraine

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The Hague — Two Dutch quality agencies said connected Friday that Russia is expanding its usage of prohibited chemical weapons successful Ukraine, including the World War I-era poison state chloropicrin.

The Netherlands' subject quality and the information service, unneurotic with the German quality service, recovered that the usage of prohibited chemic weapons by the Russian subject had go "standardized and commonplace" successful Ukraine.

According to the findings, the Russian subject uses chloropicrin and riot power cause CS against sheltering Ukrainian soldiers, who are past forced retired into the unfastened and shot.

Dutch Defense Minister Ruben Brekelmans called for much sanctions against Moscow and continued subject enactment for Kyiv.

Brekelmans, who stayed connected successful a caretaker relation aft the Dutch authorities collapsed past month, said helium doesn't privation to spot the usage of chemic weapons go normalized.

He said connected societal media, "Drones are dropping the chemic chloropicrin connected trenches, driving distant and past sidesplitting Ukrainian soldiers."

Brekelmans said with the usage of large-scale chemic weapons, Russia was again showing "its evil face."

Lowering the threshold for usage "is not lone unsafe for Ukraine, but besides for the remainder of Europe and the world," helium said successful a statement.

Russia has signed up to the Chemical Weapons Convention, which bans the usage of chloropicrin and CS arsenic weapons. The convention's watchdog, the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, oregon OPCW, has recovered respective incidents successful Ukraine involving CS, but the radical hasn't conducted a afloat investigation, which indispensable beryllium requested by the subordinate states.

The enforcement committee for the OPCW is holding a regular gathering adjacent week, wherever it's expected to sermon the struggle successful Ukraine. Russian authorities didn't instantly remark connected the findings, but they person denied utilizing chemic weapons successful the past, alternatively alleging that Ukraine has utilized the banned substances.  According to Ukraine, Russia has carried retired 9,000 chemic weapons attacks successful the state since the commencement of the full-scale penetration successful 2022.

In December, the caput of the Russian military's biologic and chemic weapons unit, Lt. General Igor Kirillov, was killed along with his lawman during a blast successful Moscow. At the time, an informed root successful the Security Service of Ukraine told CBS News, "Kirillov was a warfare transgression and an perfectly morganatic target, since helium gave orders to usage prohibited chemic weapons against the Ukrainian military."

In 2024, the U.S. State Department said that it had recorded the usage of chloropicrin against Ukrainian troops.

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