DISINFO: Ukraine massively producing and using chemical weapons
SUMMARY
Russia has documented cases of Ukraine using toxic chemicals and chemical warfare agents, as well as the existence of large-scale production systems for these substances in Ukraine. Russia has formally requested the OPCW’s technical assistance after discovering improvised explosive devices (IEDs) laced with toxic chemicals in territories liberated from Ukrainian forces.
RESPONSE
No evidence is provided to support the claim. Allegations made by Russian authorities cannot be considered as such, given their proven history of making unsubstantiated claims based on faked or nonexistent proofs, for example about US biolaboratories in Ukraine or the presence of French combat troops on the Ukrainian frontlines.
This disinformation story is a direct reaction to credible reports in late June 2025 by the German and Dutch intelligence services on the growing use of banned chemical weapons by Russia in the battlefield in Ukraine. In the same dates, Ukraine claimed to have documented 888 cases of use of munitions containing dangerous chemical compounds only in May 2025, while the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) confirmed the presence of toxic chemical C2 in at least one spot of the frontline, which Ukrainian authorities described as irrefutable evidence of Russia’s violations of the Chemical Weapons Convention.
The timing suggests that this is an attempt to manipulate the information space by mirroring the accusations without actual evidence, which is a frequent pro-Kremlin disinformation technique.
See other examples of similar disinformation narratives, such as claims that the West ignores evidence of Ukrainian Armed Forces use of chemical weapons, that Ukraine uses chemical weapons without control, that Ukrainian forces have almost certainly received chemical weapons from NATO and are testing them, that the West is preparing a provocation to accuse Russia of using chemical weapons, or that Ukraine's use of chemical weapons shows the politicisation of OPCW.