Iran Press/ America: Defense Department press secretary John Kirby said the Pentagon said the alleged reports Monday evening of a possible Russian chemical weapons attack on the Ukrainian city of Mariupolthe reports were not confirmed, but it was closely monitoring the situation.
“We are aware of social media reports which claim Russian forces deployed a potential chemical munition in Mariupol, Ukraine,” Kirby said Monday. “We cannot confirm at this time and will continue to monitor the situation closely.”
British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss also said on Monday Britain was working with its partners to verify the details of claims that Russian forces may have used chemical agents.
The original report was in the form of a Telegram message posted by the Azov Regiment, an ultra-nationalist part of the Ukrainian National Guard. The Azov message said Russian forces used “a poisonous substance of unknown origin.”
The statements came after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Monday that Russia could use chemical weapons in Ukraine.
“I would like to remind world leaders that the possible use of chemical weapons by the Russian military has already been discussed,” Zelensky said.
British armed forces minister James Heappey also on Tuesday threatened Russia that all options would be on the table in how the West responds to any use of chemical weapons in Ukraine by Russia.
The Moscow government has been warning for weeks about the possibility of the Ukrainian army taking action to stage a chemical attack on the country.
Moscow said earlier on Monday that the United States and Britain were helping Ukraine prepare fake claims about the alleged persecution of civilians in Ukraine to feed to international media in an attempt to smear Russia.
Russia’s defense ministry said Ukraine’s government was being directed by the United States to sow false evidence of Russian violence against civilians despite Moscow’s “unprecedented measures to save civilians.”
“The United States, which has many years of experience in organizing provocations with human victims, continues its campaign to create and promote false ‘evidence’,” the ministry said.
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