Back on March 9, 2022, the United States warned that Russia could use chemical weapons in Ukraine. At the time, these reports from White House Speaker Jen Psaki were seen as a warning of a possible "false flag" operation.
A month later, however, the first reports emerged about the possible use of chemical weapons by Russian troops. This was announced by the regiment "Azov", which is part of the military unit 3057 of the Eastern operational-territorial association of the National Guard of Ukraine.
"Reports that Russian forces may have used chemical agents in an attack on the people of Mariupol. We are working urgently with partners to verify details," UK Foreign Secretary Liz Truss said.
Just a day earlier, Russian militant from occupied Donetsk Eduard Basurin said that the Ukrainian defenders of Mariupol should be blocked at the Azovstal plant and then used chemical weapons there. The next day after this statement, according to the military, a shell spraying an unknown gas was thrown onto the territory of the plant. "Three people have clear signs of chemical warfare poisoning, but without catastrophic consequences," said a former commander of the Azov unit Andrii Biletsky, who was in contact with the fighters in the surrounded city at the time.
Nevertheless, information about Russia's possible use of chemical weapons remains unconfirmed to this day, in part because of the absence of then, independent observers in Mariupol and the long time that has passed since then.
"Different bombs are being used. We are verifying the use of chemical weapons by the Russian Federation. We act as fair-minded people and are based on facts. Professionals, specialists should take samples, and when there is evidence, we will show what chemical weapons and where they used them. But first of all - the facts," President Zelenskyy said a week later.
The Russian Federation has been a party to the Chemical Weapons Convention since 1997. On September 27, 2017, Russia announced the complete elimination of its chemical weapons stockpiles.
However, even if even a part of the stockpile was destroyed, many countries suspected Russia not only of storing some substances used as chemical weapons, but also of developing new weapons. Less than a year later, in March 2018, the Russian military probably used the Novichok nerve agent to attempt an assassination attempt on a British citizen, ex-Russian intelligence officer Sergey Skripal.
The first documentary evidence appeared on September 24, 2022.
With the help of drones, Russians tried to attack Ukrainian servicemen with tear grenade K-51.
The K-51 is a Soviet non-lethal tear gas aerosol hand grenade. It was developed in the late 1970s in the USSR. Once the fuse begins to burn, a reaction takes place inside the grenade; the burning substance increases the pressure inside the casing and knocks out the bottom of the grenade, atomizing a cloud of chemical agent. An enemy caught in the aerosol cloud is unable to resist or fire without a gas mask, as his hands reflexively reach for his face to wipe his eyes. It was used by the Soviet army, notably in the April 9, 1989 mass protest in Tbilisi that killed 19 people and injured nearly 4,000.
Pomegranate contains chloropicrin, which in turn causes severe nausea and tears. In World War I, German forces used concentrated chloropicrin against Allied forces as a tear gas. The Chemical Weapons Convention banned the military use of chloropicrin, equating it with phosgene, chlorocyanine and hydrocyanic acid.
A similar case then occurred in October 2022 in Zaporizhzhia region. A month later, the State Border Service of Ukraine reported that the Russian military had used K-51 aerosol grenades. Because of this, border guards had to fight in chemical defense equipment for some time.
Reports of the use of K-51 chemical grenades have been reported in a number of combat locations, particularly in the Kherson area, Donetsk direction and many others. The most common tactic for the Russians to use chemical weapons is the dropping of K-51 grenades from drones, which could potentially protect Russian soldiers from exposure to the gas.
The fact that the Ukrainian military has already managed to capture drones that were supposed to drop these grenades on the trenches of Ukrainian troops can be used as one of the pieces of evidence.
In Particular, a Russian drone tried to bombard Ukrainian border guards with К-51 gas grenades on March 26, 2023. The attack attempt was made in the Luhansk region, according to the Lugansk Border Guards Detachment named after the Hero of Ukraine Colonel Yevhenii Pikus.
Captured Mavic 3 UAV with K-51 granade
It is worth noting that К-51 gas grenades were probably actively used by Russian forces during the battles for Donetsk airport in 2015. A video circulated by Russian media showed the casing of a K-51 grenade during Russian attempts to clear the terminal area, which was held by the Ukrainian military at the time.
And while K-51 grenades are a particularly dangerous weapon, they have limited effect. The risk of Russia using unconventional weapons on a large scale is much greater.
In particular, the British Defense Minister fears that the Kremlin will resort to unconventional weapons systems. As an example, he recalled how the Russian army massively poisoned Syrians to help the Assad regime. “...he use of chemical weapons in Syria was another turning point, the use of chemical weapons here on the streets of the United Kingdom in the Skripals’ poisoning in Salisbury… We are on our guard, the international community regularly communicate, we stand ready with NATO, we increase our readiness as we do, and we have started to increase the investment in our capabilities, all important, but he is right we have to be very much on our guard about what happens next,” Wallace said.
And the Defense Intelligence of Ukraine said on May 27 that the occupants had started using chemical weapons against their military to blame Ukraine.
Russian forces during the battle for Donetsk Airport, 2015
Russia-backed Sparta illegal organization during the battle for Donetsk Airport, 2015
Nevertheless, even the use of K-51 grenades is a serious violation of international law. As mentioned above, the substances in K-51 grenades are considered toxic chemicals under Schedule 3 of the OPCW Chemicals Annex. Toxic chemicals are categorized as chemical weapons under Article II, paragraph 1 (subparagraph a).
Accordingly, there is every reason and evidence to speak about regular cases of Russia's use of chemical weapons in its war of aggression against Ukraine. Which is directly prohibited by a number of international treaties:
Geneva Protocol of 1925;
Convention on the Prohibition of the Development, Production, Stockpiling and Use of Chemical Weapons and on Their Destruction of 1993.
To which Russia is a party.
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