The United States, United Kingdom, and Australia have said they are working to verify unconfirmed reports on social media that Russian forces used a “poisonous substance” in the long-contested southern city of Mariupol.
“Russian occupation forces used a poisonous substance of unknown origin against Ukrainian military and civilians in the city of Mariupol, which was dropped from an enemy [unmanned aerial vehicle],” the Azov Regiment posted on April 11. “The victims have respiratory failure, vestibulo-atactic syndrome. The consequences of using an unknown substance are being clarified.”
The regiment didn’t say that chemical weapons had been used, but Ukrainian MP Ivanna Klympush with the European Solidarity party said on Twitter that as the regiment claimed that victims were experiencing respiratory failure, the substance is “most likely” chemical weapons.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in a video address on Monday didn’t say whether chemical weapons had been used in Mariupol, but said of the claims, “we treat this with the utmost seriousness.”
An aide to Mariupol’s mayor, Petro Andryushchenko, separately highlighted that the reports had not been verified.
When pressed by U.S. media, the Pentagon said that it is aware of the reports.
“Any use of such weapons would be a callous escalation in this conflict and we will hold Putin and his regime to account,” she said.
The reports follow weeks of heavy shelling by Russian forces in the strategic city. Mariupol’s mayor, Vadym Boychenko, warned late last month of an imminent “humanitarian catastrophe” if more citizens weren’t allowed to evacuate.
In a Telegram post on April 6, a spokesperson for the Azov Regiment said that occupying forces were “using phosphorus bombs and dropping them on the city.”
He said of the Russian forces, “I want to say the words that were written by the great Ukrainian prophet, almost 2 centuries ago: ‘O lovely maidens, fall in love. But not with the Muscovites, for Muscovites are foreign folk. They do not treat you right.’ It is difficult to describe the disaster that they do in Mariupol. Behind all the bombs that were dropped on the city, and all the rockets, they even use phosphorous bombs. I can’t even imagine [what] these freaks will come up with to destroy what’s left.”
Zelenskyy in his nightly address called on Ukraine’s allies to help supply “necessary weapons.”
“Unfortunately, we are not getting as much as we need to end this war sooner,” Zelenskyy said. “I am sure that we will get almost everything we need, but not only time is being lost. The lives of Ukrainians are being lost—lives that can no longer be returned.”