Russia is increasingly using drones to drop highly toxic chemicals on the battlefield, a practice that is a war crime, Ukraine’s intelligence agency (HUR) has said.
In a Telegram post, HUR wrote that Russian forces use drones to release so-called RG-Vo grenades, which are hand grenades containing a poisonous substance.
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“Currently, on the front line, in particular in the Zaporizhzhia region [in central-eastern Ukraine] near the settlement of Shcherbaky, cases of the enemy using poison gas ammunition are increasingly being recorded,” HUR said.
On April 16, Ukraine’s Center for Countering Disinformation reported that authorities had inspected a downed Iranian-designed Shahed drone that had been used by Russia, and identified a capsule with concentrated chlorobenzylidenemalononitrile (CS) gas.
The substance is a type of riot control agent banned under the Chemical Weapons Convention, of which Russia is a signatory.
However, the center noted that reports of Russian forces coating Shahed drones with poisonous substances are unconfirmed.
HUR said that CS gas can be deadly, adding that “there have already been deaths among the defenders of Ukraine.”
No third parties have yet been able to investigate these allegations against Russia.
Last year, the United States and United Kingdom accused Russian general Igor Kirillov of heading a unit partly responsible for using chemicals on the battlefield in Ukraine.
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They said Russia was using a toxic choking agent called chloropicrin, which was first deployed in World War One.
London and Washington imposed sanctions on Russian individuals and entities linked to chemical weapons programs at the time.
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