Chemical grenades: Ukrainian soldiers killed by Russia's Iranian drones 'coated' in poison

Russian drones are increasingly dropping RG-Vo grenades, which are hand grenades containing a poisonous substance to target Ukrainian soldiers on the ground, Kyiv alleged. 

 

The battlefields of central-eastern Ukraine's Zaporizhzhia have witnessed an increased use of hazardous RG-Vo grenades, Ukraine’s intelligence agency (HUR) was quoted as saying by Kyiv Post. Unconfirmed reports said that Iranian-made Shahed drones were being used by Moscow's soldiers to carry the chemically hazardous grenades. While some of the drones had chemical capsules to carry, others were coated in similar substances, these reports said.

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The frontlines of Zaporizhzhia are not far from civilian settlements like Shcherbaky and Russia is committing a war crime by stepping up the use of such weapons, Ukraine said. 

 

The Ukrainian intelligence department has identified the chemical substance being carried by some of these drones as concentrated chlorobenzylidenemalononitrile (CS) gas. A riot control agent, the use of CS gas has been banned under the Chemical Weapons Convention, Ukraine claimed. 

 

The use of these chemical weapons has already claimed the lives of its soldiers in the region, Ukraine said.

 

Meanwhile, Russia's Defence Ministry claimed that its forces took control of the village of Oleshnya, on the border with Ukraine.

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Units of the 'North' military group have liberated the village of Oleshnya in the Kursk region during active offensive operations, the ministry said in a statement. The Associated Press was unable to immediately verify the claim and there was no immediate response from Ukrainian officials.

 

According to Russian state news agency TASS, Russia is still fighting to push Ukrainian forces out of the village of Gornal, some 11 kilometres south of Oleshnya.Russian and North Korean soldiers have nearly deprived Kyiv of a key bargaining chip by retaking most of the region, where Ukrainian troops staged a surprise incursion last year.

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