The US Is Investigating Report of Russian Chemical Weapon Attack in Ukraine

The Pentagon says it is monitoring reports that the Russian military deployed chemical weapons against Ukrainian soldiers in the besieged coastal city of Mariupol.

“We are aware of social media reports which claim Russian forces deployed a potential chemical munition in Mariupol, Ukraine," said Pentagon press secretary John Kirby in a statement released to the media Monday night. “We cannot confirm at this time and will continue to monitor the situation closely.”

Kirby cautioned that nothing about the alleged attack was verified, but he said “if true” it would be “deeply concerning and reflective of concerns that we have had about Russia’s potential to use a variety of riot control agents, including tear gas mixed with chemical agents, in Ukraine."

The British government also confirmed it was investigating the claims of chemical weapons use by Russia in Mariupol.

The reports first appeared on Twitter Monday afternoon, when the account for the Azov Regiment—an official unit of the Ukrainian National Guard with ultranationalist and far-right origins—tweeted that a drone carrying a chemical agent struck soldiers and civilians inside Mariupol, which has been the scene of heavy fighting since the war began. 

“About an hour ago, Russian occupation forces used a poisonous substance of unknown origin against Ukrainian military and civilians in the city of Mariupol, which was dropped from an enemy (drone),” said the tweet, noting the “victims have respiratory failure.”

Almost since the beginning of the war in late February, President Joseph Biden and his administration has repeatedly warned that Russia could deploy chemical weapons in Ukraine. A spokesperson for Russian-backed separatists in the Donbas, Eduard Basurin, hinted that chemical warfare units should be used on Azov, only hours before their alleged use yesterday. The Syrian government, with the help of Russia, has used sarin and chlorine gas in the conflict there. 

As of the time of publication, multiple Ukrainian military sources who spoke to VICE World News said they “don’t have any confirmation yet,” with one noting that the reports came from the official Azov Twitter account.

“That was a message from their official page, so I think it’s correct information, because they write it from the frontline,” said the source. “Directly from Mariupol.”

Since no independent media is inside the city, the picture of current events in Mariupol is incredibly hard to attain, especially as Azov and other Ukrainian military are putting up what many see as a final fight, as they are completely encircled and outnumbered by Russian forces.

A spokesperson with Azov’s political wing, National Corps, said its top commander, Andriy Biletsky—who is an avowed ultranationalist—confirmed the attack in a statement on Telegram. 

Azov, which is both a movement and a regiment that was once a far-right paramilitary unit, formed in late 2014 as the war in Donbas first began, has been a highly controversial entity since the war started. While several media outlets have rightfully noted that the group continues to have links to neo-Nazism and extremist politics, it constitutes less than one percent of the Ukrainian military. That hasn’t stopped Kremlin propaganda from seizing on Azov as a proof alone of its “de-Nazification” efforts in Ukraine.