Ukraine Updates: Officials Accuse Russia of Using Chemical Weapons in Mariupol
Mariupol mayor claims over 10,000 civilians have died in the city.
Day 48. Ukrainian officials accused Russia of using chemical weapons in Mariupol. The city’s mayor echoed President Volodymyr Zelenskyy when he said over 10,000 civilians have been killed.
Fighting will continue to grow in the East. I will update my post better than I did yesterday.
Live Stream:
Marine Le Pen Doesn’t Support Sanctions on Russian Gas
French president candidate Marine Le Pen doesn’t support sanctions on Russian gas because it would affect the French. She’s right. Until Europe lets go of Russian energy the sanctions will just end up hurting them:
In an interview with France Inter Radio, she said she did not want the French people “to suffer the consequences of sanctions” on oil and gas.
France, like many other European countries, imports much of its natural gas through pipelines from Russia, using it for residential and commercial energy.
Le Pen, who will battle Emmanuel Macron for the presidency in a run-off on 24 April, has been criticised by rivals over her past support for Russia and President Vladimir Putin.
She appeared to back Russia’s annexation of Crimea in 2014 but describes the current invasion as a different situation.
US Cannot Confirm Chemical Weapons
The US cannot confirm the Russians used chemical weapons in Mariupol:
The US cannot confirm the potential use of chemical agents by Russia in Ukraine’s port city of Mariupol at this time, a senior US defence official said today.
The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the US did not have information to confirm any movement of chemical agents by Russia in or near Ukraine.
Hanna Malyar, Ukrainian Deputy Defence Minister, said Kyiv was checking unverified information that Russia may have used chemical weapons while besieging Mariupol.
Putin’s Purge
Russian President Vladimir Putin supposedly purged and arrested a bunch of agents at the Federal Security Bureau (FSB):
In a sign of President Putin’s fury over the failures of the invasion, about 150 Federal Security Bureau (FSB) officers have been dismissed, including some who have been arrested.
All of those ousted were employees of the Fifth Service, a division set up in 1998, when Putin was director of the FSB to carry out operations in the countries of the former Soviet Union with the aim of keeping them within Russia’s orbit.
The service’s former chief, Sergei Beseda, 68, has been sent to Lefortovo prison in Moscow after he was placed under house arrest last month. The prison was used by the NKVD, the KGB’s predecessor, for interrogation and torture during Stalin’s Great Purge of the 1930s.
The FSB purge was reported by Christo Grozev, executive director of Bellingcat, the investigative organisation that unmasked the two Salisbury poisoners in 2018. He did not reveal the source of his information.
<>h2>10,000 Dead
Zelenskyy said on Monday that Russians killed over 10,000 civilians in Mariupol. The mayor backed him up:
The besieged Ukrainian city of Mariupol yielded up more horrors after six weeks of pummeling by Russian troops, with the mayor saying more than 10,000 civilians have died in the strategic southern port, their corpses “carpeted through the streets.”
As Russia pounded targets around Ukraine and prepared for a major assault in the east, the country’s leader warned President Vladimir Putin’s forces could resort to chemical weapons, and Western officials said they were investigating an unconfirmed claim by a Ukrainian regiment that a poisonous substance was dropped in Mariupol.
The city has seen some of the heaviest attacks and civilian suffering in the war, but the land, sea and air assaults by Russian forces fighting to capture it have increasingly limited information about what’s happening inside the city.
Speaking by phone Monday with The Associated Press, Mariupol Mayor Vadym Boychenko accused Russian forces of having blocked weeks of attempted humanitarian convoys into the city in part to conceal the carnage. Boychenko said the death toll in Mariupol alone could surpass 20,000.
Chemical Weapons in Mariupol?
That’s what the National Guard Azov regiment claims:
Ukraine’s National Guard Azov regiment has accused Russia of using chemical weapons during an assault on the southern port city of Mariupol Monday afternoon, according to a report.
The missile attack included a “poisonous substance” that resulted in “disastrous consequences” for its victims, some of whom now suffer from “respiratory failure, vestibulo-atactic syndrome,” Azov leader Andriy Biletsky said on Telegram.
The U.S. and the U.K. have been unable to confirm the use of a chemical agent in the attack.
Pentagon press secretary John Kirby said the attack potentially included “tear gas mixed with chemical agents” and that the U.S. would continue to investigate the claim.
Russia’s latest attack on Mariupol comes amid a six-week siege on the city, which has left more than 10,000 civilians dead, according to its governor.
Corpses “carpeted through the streets” of Mariupol, said Mayor Vadym Boychenko, who also predicted the death toll could exceed 20,000.
About 120,000 civilians remain in the city, desperate for food and water, the mayor added.
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Comments
Yeah, let’s make sure we wait on confirmation of this. Which might never come. Because a lot of things we wouldn’t consider “chemical weapons” in the popular sense (like tear gas) can cause bad effects in some people.
Heck even if a chemical agent were released its still likely that it wasn’t intentional on the part of Russia. Putin’s winning, he’s not stupid enough to gas cities.
I work in food manufacturing with ammonia being used to rapidly cool products. If the main ammonia system were ruptured it would release enough ammonia to force an evacuation of a miles-wide area around the plant. There’s plenty of other industries that work with large quantities of dangerous agents that could be unintentionally released by a war on top of them.
IF a chemical were released it, and I’ve seen no proof that it was in the first place, then it’s FAR more likely it came from a Ukraine industry/storage and was released by the fighting, than Putin suddenly lost his mind and gave Ukraine the perfect rallying point.
I’m sick of the propaganda from both sides.
EDIT – DAMN IT WHERE’S MAH EDIT BUTTON
Perfect example of this is the Bhopol disaster (google it), where a pesticide plant in India had a chemical release that killed over 2000 people immediately and sickened/crippled tens of thousands more.
And that was due to just worker sabotage, not warfare.
That’s nothing. Every day more than 3000 million litres of untreated sewage are dumped into the Ganges river. Then millions of people go bathe in it and wash their clothes with it.
If a chemical agent were released, then we would have to ask why the Ukrainians are manufacturing them.
If a chemical were released, I’m not sure we could be positive the Russians didn’t do it on purpose.
On the gripping hand, there are stories the Russian soldiers attacking Chernobyl weren’t told that’s where they were. They had no ROE that they knew of to restrict them from blowing up the melted-down reactor’s containment.
Upvoted for the reference. Still one of the greatest sci fi books of all time.
“On the gripping hand, there are stories the Russian soldiers attacking Chernobyl weren’t told that’s where they were.”
What? Soldiers don’t have access to GPS systems? To MAPS? This isn’t some horde of Mongols rampaging through a land, this is a (supposedly) modern military with access to high-tech systems for location.
Supposedly modern military.
I think that’s one of the bits that’s coming to light – it might not be.
(And, no, the average conscript does not have access to maps and GPS systems. That would just give them an easier route to escaping home.)
That’s my current interpretation – unfortunate rupture of a toxic storage or pipeline.
However, I will acknowledge that a senior person (not sure if they’re a military or political leader) in the so-called DNR has explicitly stated that chemical weapons will be needed to defeat the Mariupol defenders.
DNR forces (along with Chechens) are doing the bulk of the attacking there, so it’s far from inconceivable that the DNR have gone chemical.
“Putin’s winning, he’s not stupid enough to gas cities.”
How is Putin “winning?”
You bring up an excellent point about Putin not needing agents because he is winning and I’m going to add another dimension to it.
Any NBC attack ( or defense) is both a logistical nightmare and a combat effectiveness destroyer. ( ask any American soldier who has heard the alarm “GAS” and had to mask/MOPP-4 then had to perform duties)
Then ask about the logistics of operating in MOPP then decontaminating.
No army in their right mind (Putin included) would lose that combat effectiveness, risk his troops, take the time and resources needed from military objectives and absorb the cost in materials, money, manpower- not to mention the International risks and risks of reprisal unless they were in a desperate situation and Putin simply isn’t there.
Nah. The Chechyan fighhters have been fed a diet of only beans.
I’m a bit skeptical about the war in Ukraine. It seems the sanctions are hurting us as much as they’re hurting Russia. And that our governemt is using the war to blame Russia for the problems that Biden himself has caused. Maybe we need to hold off on Ukraine for awhile and concentrate on the problems in our own country which are rather dire at the moment.
Maybe we need to … concentrate on the problems in our own country
A yuge reason for the Adams Doctrine:
America does not go abroad in search of monsters to destroy.
You can’t be serious. Psaki referred at least twice yesterday to Putin’s inflation. They desperately need that theme, since they have no meaningful plans to do anything about it. /s
Also, the sanctions are materially overstated, given the EU put themselves in the position of requiring Russian energy and we can’t replace it – because Climate Change is the “existential threat”, except for the 40 million people still left in Ukraine.
“…except for the 40 million people still left in Ukraine.”
At the rate they are leaving they will all be in Poland by the first of June.
The Russians are NOT using chemical weapons ( defined as military grade NBC agents such as blood, blister or nerve agents- persistent or non persistent).
It’s all in the eyes of the beholder—or in the case the reporter.
Maybe not. I wouldn’t put it past them to use some (look at who’s in charge now). I also would expect them to ensure everything about them is murky and unsubstantiated, in order to preserve some caution on the part of their enemies.
Tear gas is also a chemical weapon (as defined by the 1925 Geneva Protocols) and it wouldn’t surprise me to see that being used in this case. It would or could also cause the symptoms described in the article, especially if the powdered form is used.
And that’s why I mentioned “in the popular sense” above. While it would be a technical violation of the Protocols, most Americans would, I think, shrug. “We use it on rioters here and use similar products in self-defense, so it can’t be a real violation.”
But, yes, it can be an efficient battlefield weapon if used properly.
No but let me correct the narrative for you so you have the whole truth and facts. (I am a former SME of NBC warfare, Dragon Soldier, Master Instructor of the USACMLS at both Leonard Wood and McClellan when it closed, live agent certified trainer at the Cobra facility and a whole lot more on the subject)
Much of what’s out there is misleading. Yes “tear gas” ( more appropriately what we call riot agents now) are “chemical agents” ( made from chemicals) and retain that classification. All of that is correct and not in dispute.
Quoting Webster’s, Geneva, Hague and others is past the expiration date and no longer applicable because the current governing “protocol’ ( what its called although its a bit ambiguous and misleading) is the 1993 Chemical Weapons Convention. (Its what everybody cites now as the “authority”)
Riot agents in that are still classified as chemical agents and “illegal” for warfare- they are “legal” for use domestically “appropriate”. (No, I didn’t put the weasel words in there and I personally state its a meaningless distinction). The net result is “tear gas” regardless of protocol definition is not “regarded” as a chemical weapon in terms of usage with anyone.
That being said, normal Warsaw pact doctrine ( now Russia) is and always has been to use both riot agents and smoke as masking agents for other irritants and even tactical chemical agents ( mixing nerve agents with smoke or lung irritants etc.). There is no reason to believe this has changed.
However, this is why it is most unlikely this is a deliberate Russian act.
Chemicals agents are not like genetically modified bio agents (which can be targeted down to specific ethnic groups)- Chemical agents attack everything and don’t discriminate. They also follow the wind ( except for the thicker persistent agents).
None of that evidence is present ( a “fan” plotted on a map of casualties, no dead animals/insects/vectors, no mass casualties and so forth) as as been reported like we had when we were observing in Iraq in the 80’s when real agents were used.
Also, there are no reports of people observing marked munitions ( there are specific markings) nor reports of Russian Chemical gear ( like our MOPP suits) being used. (Deployed chemical agents will kill or attack the Russians just like any other people unless they are protected and would also have to be decontaminated).
There are no reports of Russian chemical companies ( units devoted to operations such as decontamination of people and equipment or treating chemical casualties) setting up decon stations which would certainly be there if the Russians planned the use.
Not to mention we have equipment that will very accurately detect and identify agents (256, M-8, the FOX, BIDS and dozens more)- no reports of these as we know so far.
So when you look at all the facts, if these accounts are true- based on what questionable evidence is available, the ,most likely scenario at the moment is these reports stem from the burning of industrial stuff ( as is common in war) equaling what we would call an accident with industrialized chemicals and localized.
So is this article suggesting Europe cease to power itself and go into a dark age?
Without even getting into unsubstantiated accusations pushed by one side in a conflict (I am glad this isn’t the standard LI uses when it comes to the Arab Israeli conflict) we are supposed to be mad at Le Penn for putting the interests of France ahead of Ukraine?
Huh?
I don’t think so. But it might be hinting that Europe needs to wake up, tell the greenies to stuff themselves, and drill their own
European shale gas resources
Would you consider Le Penn’s opponents more likely to do that than her?
Please give an hour to listen to this video:
https://thesaker.is/scott-ritter-and-gonzalo-lira-the-battle-of-the-donbass/
Whatever you may say about Scott Ritter, you should listen and ask yourself, “could this be propaganda”, or are the comments put forward in a seriously thoughtful manner from a guy who has a lot more experience than we have?
Just publishing the propaganda from the MSM is not helpful to anyone.