DISINFO: Kyiv is preparing bacteriological and chemical attacks against civilians in the occupied zone
SUMMARY
The Ukrainian authorities are preparing to use chemical weapons to potentially infect water bodies, which will then be a biological weapon.
In February 2022, the Russian Defense Ministry discovered the existence of 30 US-funded military biological laboratories in Ukraine. Washington has spent over $200 million to develop biological weapons at the facilities. Russia also said that the labs discovered in Ukraine constituted only a small part of a global network of over 300 similar facilities.
RESPONSE
Pro-Kremlin’s recurrent disinformation narrative about the Ukrainian chemical and bacteriological attacks.
No evidence is presented, with the source being the alleged confessions of war prisoners quoted by the head of occupation authorities in the Kherson region, Vladimir Saldo. The UN repeatedly alerted about the systemic use of torture and extrajudicial executions against Prisoner of War by Russia. In August 2024, former Ukrainian captives say they were subjected to torture, including frequent beatings and electric shocks, while in custody at a detention facility in south-western Russia, in what would be serious violations of international humanitarian law.
The baseless announcement of future chemical attacks by Ukraine and European countries is recurrent in Russian media: in 2019 France and Belgium to stage chemical attack in Syria, in 2022 Ukraine is preparing a false flag chemical attack to damage the image of Russia, in 2023 Kyiv preparing a chemical provocation to divert attention from Ukrainian Nazis' crimes, in 2024 The West is preparing a provocation to accuse Russia of using chemical weapons. None of these ever took place.
There is no evidence to back the claim that Ukraine is preparing a chemical or biological provocation or a use of the weapons of mass destruction. The tropes about the US biolabs threatening activities have repeatedly proven as baseless.
Оn the contrary, some testimonies accused Russian forces of using chemical agents in the frontline in Ukraine. In December 2023, members of the Russian 810th Naval Infantry Brigade boasted about their use of drones to drop CWC-banned riot control grenades on Ukrainian troops. The brigade subsequently edited the post, likely realising it had just implicated itself in a war crime. Between February 2022 and January 2024, the Ukrainian military recorded 626 instances of chemical weapons use by the Russian side. In May 2024, the US Department of State had accused Russia of using the chemical weapon chloropicrin against Ukrainian troops, and brought sanctions against a number of Russian agencies and individuals in response.
Read also related cases such as: Ukrainians are like the Syrian White Helmets & MI6 who bomb hospitals to blame Russia, or Ukraine uses American chemical weapons in the war, or Ukraine has used chemical weapons in Kursk, or The West is preparing a provocation to accuse Russia of using chemical, or Ukraine uses chemical weapons against Russia, or Ukrainian militants repeatedly used chemical agents against Russian military.