The United States has not yet confirmed the use of chemical weapons in Mariupol, Ukraine, a senior US Department of Defense official said today.
The Deputy Minister of Defense of Ukraine Hannah Maliar He said the Ukrainian government was looking into unconfirmed reports that Russia may have used chemical weapons during the siege of Mariupol.
“We can not confirm the use of chemical weapons at this stage”, the American official told reporters, on condition of anonymity. He added that the United States had no information that would support the scenario that Russia was transporting chemical weapons to Ukraine or near its borders.
US President Joe Biden said last month Russia’s baseless allegations that Kyiv had biological and chemical weapons suggested that Russian President Vladimir Putin was considering using them in Ukraine.
The production, use and storage of chemical weapons is prohibited under the 1997 Chemical Weapons Convention. Although condemned by human rights groups, white phosphorus is not banned under the Convention, Reuters notes.
Russia’s Defense Ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Reuters. Russian-backed separatist forces in eastern Ukraine have denied the use of chemical weapons in Mariupol, according to Interfax.
Russian troops abandoned the attempt to occupy Kiev, as they failed to bend the resistance of Ukrainian forces. And now they are intensifying their operations in eastern Ukraine, where a US official said a Russian convoy had previously been located about 60 kilometers from the city of Izium.
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