Britain is investigating reports of poison gas

According to reports, there was an attack by the Russians with poison gas in Mariupol. There is no official confirmation of this. The US and UK reacted with concern. The British have announced a review.

Britain is trying to verify reports that Russia used chemical weapons in an attack on the besieged Ukrainian city of Mariupol. “There are reports that Russian forces may have used chemical warfare agents in an attack on the people of Mariupol,” Secretary of State Liz Truss wrote on Twitter. She would like to check the details with partners.

“Any use of such weapons would be a callous escalation in this conflict and we will hold Putin and his regime accountable,” Truss continued.

US Defense Department spokesman John Kirby said Monday evening that Washington has unconfirmed information about a chemical weapons attack in the strategically important city. “If this information is true, it is of great concern,” he said.

He cited US military concerns that Russia “could use various riot control tools, particularly tear gas mixed with chemical warfare agents, in Ukraine.”

No confirmation from official bodies

Ukrainian MP Ivanna Klympush said on Twitter that Russia had used an “unknown substance” in Mariupol and people were suffering from shortness of breath. “Probably chemical weapons!” she wrote. Petro Andryushchenko, an adviser to the Mariupol mayor, stressed on Telegram that “the information about the chemical weapons attack is currently unconfirmed”. “Details and clarifications” would come at a later date. He is waiting for “official information from the military”.

Shortly after a Russian threat to use chemical weapons in Mariupol, the Ukrainian Azov regiment reported a poison gas attack. An unknown substance had been dropped from a drone over the long-contested city, Azov announced on his Telegram channel in the evening. The people hit suffered from breathing difficulties and movement disorders, Azov said.

Pro-Russian separatists for chemical weapons use

According to Western military experts, the situation in Mariupol is getting worse. Russian forces pushed back the Ukrainian defenders. The Ukrainians have entrenched themselves in the Azovstal steelworks, among other places. Military spokesman for the pro-Russian Donetsk separatists, Eduard Bassurin, said capturing the underground fortifications at the factory site would be too costly. Therefore one should rely on chemically armed troops.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy referred to the threat in his nightly video address. “We take this very seriously.” A possible chemical weapons attack should be a reason for foreign states to react even more harshly to the Russian aggression, Zelenskyj said.

Apparently already more than 10,000 dead civilians in Mariupol

More than 10,000 civilians have already been killed in Mariupol, says the mayor. Vadym Boichenko gave the number in a phone call to the AP news agency on Monday. The city’s streets are still covered with bodies, he said. So it could also be more than 20,000 dead. Just last Wednesday, Boitschenko put the number of dead in his city at more than 5,000. The information cannot be independently verified.

Almost seven weeks after the start of the Russian war of aggression in Ukraine, the important port city of Mariupol is apparently on the verge of falling: The remaining Ukrainian troops in the city said on Monday that they were preparing for the “final battle”, pro-Russian separatists from the Donetsk region reported the capture of the port of Mariupol.

Zelenskyj: We don’t have the weapons to liberate Mariupol

According to Zelenskyy, Ukraine lacks the heavy weapons to liberate Mariupol. “If we had planes and enough heavy armored vehicles and artillery, we could do it,” he said in his video address.

He is sure that Ukraine will eventually get the weapons it needs. “But not only time is lost, but also the lives of Ukrainians”. Those who did not deliver the weapons now were responsible for this.

People in Kharkiv warned of cluster mines

Meanwhile, the attacks continue elsewhere in the country. According to the Western military, a major Russian offensive involving tens of thousands of soldiers and the massive deployment of tanks, artillery and air force is emerging in eastern Ukraine. Russia increased its troops there from 30,000 to 40,000 last week, a US Department of Defense official said.

According to the local governor, at least eight civilians were killed by Russian artillery shelling in the Kharkov region. The authorities also warned the population of landmines that had been dropped on the north-eastern city. On Monday, security forces cordoned off an area east of Kharkiv to clear up a number of small explosive devices scattered on residential streets.

The head of Ukraine’s demining unit, Lt. Col. Nikolai Ovcharuk, said the mines were plastic PTM-1M time-detonated mines and were widely used by Soviet forces in Afghanistan. Cluster mines such as the PTM-1M mines are banned under the Ottawa Convention on anti-personnel mines because of the danger they pose to civilians.