According to the information published by the General Staff of The Ukrainian Armed Forces, the military has documented 1,068 instances of Russian occupation forces using ammunition equipped with poisonous substances since the start of Russia’s full-scale war against Ukraine.
“In February 2024 alone, there were 250 cases (244 involving explosives, one with gas, and five with other ammunition containing chemical substances),” the statement revealed.
Ukrainian army units specialising in radiation, chemical, and biological reconnaissance are currently gathering soil, vegetation, and fragments of ammunition for thorough analysis. “As part of an ongoing criminal investigation, cases involving the use of hazardous chemical substances are being handed over to investigative authorities for further action,” the military explained.
Earlier, Ukraine’s Armed Forces reported that the Russians most often use grenades like K-51, RGR, and RG-Vo, which contain the dangerous chemical substance CS, prohibited for warfare (combat operations) by Article 1, Paragraph 5 of the Chemical Weapons Convention. Specifically, on December 14, 2023, the deployment of a new type of specialised gas grenade, RG-Vo, containing the tear-inducing chemical substance CS, was detected. The intense burning it triggers in the eyes leads to such irritation that an individual loses spatial orientation and the ability to resist. CS substance is utilised for military objectives, quelling civil disturbances, dispersing demonstrators, and also in self-defence implements like gas canisters and cartridges for gas pistols. In 2022, it came to light that Russian occupation forces were employing K-51 gas grenades against the Ukrainian military, dropping grenades from drones.
On Sunday, March 3, Commander of the Tavria operational-strategic group, Oleksandr Tarnavsky, reported that the Russian occupation forces conducted a total of 9 strikes using ammunition containing a chemical substance from UAVs, in violation of the UN Chemical Weapons Convention.
