The Security Service of Ukraine has served a notice of suspicion in absentia to a Russian general who ordered the use of chemical weapons against the Ukrainian Defense Forces, the SBU said on Monday, UNN reports.
Details
"The Security Service of Ukraine has documented war crimes committed by Russian Lieutenant General Igor Kirillov, the head of the radiation, chemical and biological defense troops of the Russian armed forces. The official is responsible for the massive use of banned chemical weapons by the Nazis against the Defense Forces on the eastern and southern fronts of Ukraine. On Kirillov's orders, since the beginning of the full-scale war, more than 4.8 thousand cases of enemy use of chemical munitions have been recorded," the SBU said.
"Based on the evidence collected, the Security Service investigators served Kirillov a notice of suspicion in absentia under Part 2 of Article 28, Part 1 of Article 438 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine (war crime committed by prior conspiracy by a group of persons)," the SBU said.
In particular, according to the special service, these are K-1 combat grenades equipped with irritant chemicals CS and CN. Their use is prohibited by the Convention on the Prohibition of the Development, Production, and Use of Chemical Weapons and on Their Destruction of 13 January 1993.
"During the full-scale invasion of Russia, more than 2,000 servicemen of the Defense Forces with various degrees of chemical poisoning were sent to military hospitals and other medical institutions of Ukraine," the SBU said.
"The occupants mostly use ammunition with toxic substances in the form of drops from FPV drones on the defense points of Ukrainian defenders. When chemical grenades are detonated, their poisonous compounds damage human mucous membranes, especially the eyes and respiratory tract. In this way, the Nazis are trying to force Ukrainian soldiers to come out of the trenches under direct fire from the occupiers," the special service said.
According to the investigation, "the occupiers use hazardous chemicals mainly in the hottest areas of combat operations, where they try to hide the use of chemical agents under heavy artillery fire.
The SBU identified Russian grenades with poisonous substances on the battlefield and handed over the relevant soil samples to the international Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons in a chain-of-custody procedure.
Two laboratories of this institution, which operate separately from each other, confirmed the relevant war crimes of Russia.
The pre-trial investigation continues to document other facts of violations of international humanitarian law by the occupiers.