Russian troops are using chemical munitions consistently across the entire front line as of the first half of 2026, Ukraine’s Ministry of Defense said.
According to the ministry’s report, more than 13,300 cases of chemical munitions use by Russian forces have been officially recorded since the start of the full-scale invasion in 2022.
The figures were presented by Colonel Valery Weber, deputy head of Ukraine’s Main Directorate for Mine Action, Civil Protection and Environmental Safety, during a G7 meeting in Chisinau.
At the event, Ukraine’s delegation said Russia’s use of chemical agents has evolved over time – while sporadic in 2023, their intensity has increased significantly since 2024.
“As of the first half of 2026, the overall level of enemy use of chemical munitions remains consistently high across the entire contact line,” the report says.
The Ministry of Defense urged Kyiv’s allies to strengthen support in chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear (CBRN) defense capabilities.
Weber also presented several priority projects, including strengthening radiation monitoring and response systems, improving the safe handling of spent ionizing radiation sources, and enhancing environmental safety at military facilities.
“The G7 countries are currently processing the submitted project proposals to allocate additional funding and technical assistance to the Ukrainian Defense Forces,” the Ministry of Defense added.
The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) said it submitted evidence to prosecutors in The Hague in late July 2025, documenting more than 10,000 alleged cases of Russian chemical weapons use against Ukrainian troops since Russia’s 2022 invasion began.
According to the SBU, Russian forces have repeatedly used CS (chlorobenzylidene malononitrile) and CN (chloroacetophenone) riot-control agents, as well as chloropicrin-filled munitions prohibited under the 1993 Chemical Weapons Convention, which Russia signed.
Ukraine said Russian troops frequently deploy the chemicals via first-person view (FPV) drones to force Ukrainian soldiers out of trenches and shelters before targeting them with conventional weapons.
The highest number of reported attacks has been recorded in eastern Ukraine and the Nikopol district in central Ukraine’s Dnipropetrovsk region.
The Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) has issued three reports confirming the presence of toxic chemical agents used by Russian forces in Ukraine, confirming in November 2024 that CS riot-control gas had been identified in shell and soil samples provided by Ukraine from combat zones.
The European Council has imposed sanctions on several Russian units and institutions linked to chemical weapons programs, including Russia’s Radiological, Chemical and Biological Defense Troops, the 27th Scientific Center, and the 33rd Central Research and Testing Institute of the Russian Defense Ministry.
Ukraine has also launched a domestic war crimes investigation under Article 438 of the Criminal Code.
In July 2025, Dutch intelligence publicly confirmed what it described as Russia’s “large-scale and systematic” use of chemical weapons, including chloropicrin and improvised gas munitions, warning that the practice risks becoming normalized.
In late April 2025, Ukraine’s military intelligence agency (HUR) reported increasing cases of Russian drones dropping toxic RG-Vo grenades near the settlement of Shcherbaky in southern Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia region.
On April 16, 2025, Ukraine’s Center for Countering Disinformation said investigators had found a capsule containing concentrated CS gas inside a downed Russian Shahed drone. The center noted, however, that reports claiming Shahed drones themselves were coated with poisonous substances remained unconfirmed.
HUR warned that CS gas can be lethal and said there had already been deaths among Ukrainian troops linked to chemical exposure.
In 2024, the United States and the United Kingdom accused Russian General Igor Kirillov of overseeing units involved in chemical weapons use in Ukraine, including the deployment of chloropicrin, a toxic choking agent first widely used during World War I. Both countries imposed sanctions on Russian individuals and entities tied to the program.
Kirillov was assassinated in Moscow in December 2024.
In December 2024, Artem Vlasiuk, chief of the Environmental Safety and Civil Protection Division within the Radiation, Chemical and Biological Defense Command of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, said more than 2,000 Ukrainian servicemen had been hospitalized with chemical poisoning since the start of the full-scale war, with at least three deaths recorded.