Putin may use chemical weapons in Ukraine, White House warns

Washington: The Biden administration publicly warned that Russia might seek to use chemical or biological weapons in Ukraine as the White House rejected Russian claims of illegal chemical weapons development in the country it has invaded.

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova this week, without evidence, accused Ukraine of running chemical and biological weapons labs in its territory, supported by the US.

White House press secretary Jen Psaki forewarning of Russian disinformation over chemical weapons.Credit: AP

White House press secretary Jen Psaki called Russia’s claim “preposterous” and said it could be part of an attempt by Russia to lay the groundwork for itself using such weapons of mass destruction against Ukraine.

“This is all an obvious ploy by Russia to try to justify its further premeditated, unprovoked, and unjustified attack on Ukraine,” Psaki tweeted Wednesday.

“Now that Russia has made these false claims, and China has seemingly endorsed this propaganda, we should all be on the lookout for Russia to possibly use chemical or biological weapons in Ukraine, or to create a false flag operation using them.”

A man is treated by Syrian medical staff after a chemical weapons attack in 2016.Credit: AP

British intelligence has made similar warnings overnight.

One Western official told the Telegraph of London “I think we’ve got good reason to be concerned about possible use of non-conventional weapons, partly because of what we’ve seen has happened in other theatres, for example what we’ve seen in Syria, and partly because we’ve seen a bit of setting the scene for that in the false flag claims that are coming out, and other indications as well.”

The US has, for months, warned about Russian “false flag” operations to create a pretext for the invasion. Wednesday’s warning suggested Russia might seek to create a pretense for escalating the two-week-old conflict that has seen the Russian offensive slowed by stronger-than-expected Ukrainian defenders, but not stopped.

Pentagon press secretary John Kirby on Wednesday called the Russian claim “a bunch of malarkey.”

The international community for years has assessed that Russia has used chemical weapons before in carrying out assassination attempts against Putin enemies like Alexey Navalny and former spy Sergei Skripal.

Russia also supports the Assad government in Syria, which has used chemical weapons against its people in a decade-long civil war.

Britain is planning to supply Ukraine with anti-aircraft missiles to help it defend its skies from Russian invasion, defence minister Ben Wallace said, stressing that the technology fell within the definition of defensive weapons.

“It is vital ... that Ukraine maintains its ability to fly and suppress Russian air attack,” Wallace told lawmakers.

“In response to Ukrainian requests, the government has taken the decision to explore the donation of STARStreak high-velocity man-portable anti-air missiles. We believe that this system will remain within the definition of defensive weapons, but will allow the Ukrainian force to better defend their skies.”

Wallace said the decision had been taken in principle to supply the systems, and the government was working out how to get them into Ukraine and train Ukrainian forces to use them.

The STARStreak system is made by Thales.

If confirmed, the supply would mark a significant step in Britain’s support for Ukraine. So far, Ukraine has praised Britain’s contribution of thousands of anti-tank missiles which have helped slow the Russian advance on Kyiv.

However, Britain’s support has been limited to defensive weaponry.

“Everything we do is bound by the decision to supply defensive systems, and are calibrated not to escalate to a strategic level,” Wallace said.

As a member of the NATO military alliance, Britain has rejected pleas from Ukraine to impose a no-fly zone over the country. Britain says that could mean NATO forces shooting down Russian planes, resulting in a significant escalation of the conflict.

AP, Reuters

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