Editor’s note: This is a breaking news story and will be updated as additional information becomes available.
The Mariupol-based National Guard unit of the Azov Regiment is reporting that its soldiers are suffering from shortness of breath after an unknown chemical substance was allegedly dispersed from a drone over the city.
“Ukrainian servicemen and civilians” are showing symptoms of “vestibulocerebellar ataxia,” Azov said on Twitter, while adding that “the consequences of the unknown substance are being clarified.”
Just hours earlier, the spokesperson for the Russian-installed defense of the occupied territories of Donetsk region, Eduard Basurin, advocated for the use of “chemical troops” to complete Russia’s the takeover of the besieged Azov Sea port city.
His statements were widely distributed on Russian state media.
The Kyiv Post is unable to confirm these reports since there are no credible or independent journalists remaining in the besieged city.
British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss addressed the possible of use of chemical agents on her official Twitter feed.
“We are working urgently with partners to verify details. Any use of such weapons would be a callous escalation in this conflict and we will hold [Russian President Vladimir] Putin and his regime to account,” she said.
The Azovstal steel plant in Mariupol.
A U.S. Defense Department spokesperson, likewise, said the Pentagon “is aware of social media reports which claim Russian forces deployed a potential chemical munition in Mariupol…We cannot confirm at this time and will continue to monitor” a press pool report said from Washington, D.C.
The dispatch added that “these reports, if true, are deeply concerning…”
One section of the second-largest Donetsk regional city that Azov controls is the Azovstal steel plant, which has a series of underground tunnels connected to it.
“They’ll [Russians] find a way to smoke these moles out of their holes,” Basurin is seen saying on Kremlin-controlled media with regard to invading Russian forces trying to seize the city.
He justified the use of chemical weapons for saving the lives of the invading forces.
“It makes no sense to take the object by storm…Because you can put a large number of your soldiers, and the enemy will not suffer as much losses,” Basurin said as cited by Kremlin mouthpiece RIA Novosti.
On March 25, U.S. President Joe Biden said NATO “would respond” if Russia used chemical weapons in Ukraine, the BBC reported. He didn’t clarify what that might mean, however.
