The Ministry of Defence has condemned Russia’s continued use of banned chemical weapons in Ukraine, reaffirming Britain’s commitment to holding violators accountable and enhancing Ukraine’s defences against such threats.
Responding to a parliamentary question from Jim Shannon MP (DUP – Strangford), Defence Minister Luke Pollard stated: “Russia’s use of chemical weapons on the front lines in Ukraine is wholly unacceptable.”
He added that “the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) has published two reports confirming the presence of CS gas in samples collected by Ukraine from the battlefield.”
In response, the UK Government has taken diplomatic and practical steps to address the threat. “In October, the UK sanctioned Russian troops and laboratories for their involvement in the use of chemical weapons in Ukraine,” Pollard confirmed. “The UK will not allow such blatant violations of the Chemical Weapons Convention and rules-based order to go unpunished.”
The UK is also working with allies to bolster Ukraine’s defensive capabilities. Pollard noted that Britain has coordinated closely with international partners, both bilaterally and through multilateral bodies such as the United Nations and the OPCW, to respond to Russia’s actions and ensure a unified response.
“This includes ensuring the coordinated provision of Counter-CBRN support and assistance to Ukraine and coordinating our response in international fora,” he said. “The UK has consistently called out Russian use of chemical weapons in Ukraine at the UN and the OPCW.”
Since the early months of the full-scale invasion, the UK Ministry of Defence has supplied the Armed Forces of Ukraine with protective equipment, including respirators and decontamination kits. In December 2024, in response to a direct request from Kyiv, the UK announced an additional £3 million in funding for protective gear. The procurement is being conducted jointly with Canada via the G7-led Global Partnership Against the Spread of Weapons of Mass Destruction.
The UK has also contributed to the OPCW’s Assistance to Ukraine Trust Fund, providing support for the purchase of detection and protection equipment aimed at identifying the use of chemical agents on the battlefield.
And some people want Ukraine to surrender to these animals.
Ahem. Not animals, please.
Animals are civilised.
Human kind, and many Russians, are on another level.
Not that many years ago a US President (Obama) declared that the use of WMD ie CW, by a despotic regime (Assad) was a ‘red line’ that required Western intervention. OK, the intervention didn’t happen for some very lame reasons… but why has there been so little condemnation in the most extreme terms by Biden and now Trump, of the use of CW hundreds of times by Russia in Ukraine? Why has Starmer and the previous three PMs not said anything?