During the 108th meeting of the OPCW Executive Council in The Hague, the Ukrainian delegation presented factual evidence of Russia’s violations of the Chemical Weapons Convention.
This was reported by an Ukrinform correspondent in The Hague.
In his speech, the head of the delegation, Deputy Director of the International Security Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Andriy Kasianov, emphasized the unprecedented increase in the number of cases where Russia uses hazardous chemicals, including riot control agents, against the Security and Defense Forces of Ukraine in violation of Article 1 of the Chemical Weapons Convention.
From February 2023 to February 2025, the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine recorded and documented more than 6,900 cases of the use of ammunition containing hazardous chemical substances by the aggressor state. In the period from Dec 24,2024, to Jan 24, 2025, alone, Ukraine recorded 844 such cases. It was also reported that more than 2,100 cases of servicemen reporting to hospitals with symptoms of chemical damage of varying severity, including three fatal cases.
The Ukrainian delegation drew attention to the OPCW reports, which confirmed that the evidence submitted by Kyiv in the form of Russian RG-Vo gas grenades and soil and grass samples contain the CS substance, which is part of the riot control agents. It was separately emphasized that, according to the reports from Ukraine’s competent authorities, these RG-Vo grenades are manufactured at Russian enterprises, in particular at the Scientific Center for Applied Chemistry and the Scientific and Applied Institute of Applied Chemistry.
The head of the Ukrainian delegation separately emphasized the importance of further isolating the Russian Federation in the international arena and preventing the aggressor state from becoming a member of the governing body, the OPCW Executive Council, for the third year in a row.
Taking into account Ukraine’s active position on the OPCW platform to expose Russian war crimes related to the use of chemical weapons, as well as Ukraine’s leading role in the field of non-proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, Ukraine, in accordance with the decision of Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha, has re-filed its candidacy for membership in the OPCW Executive Council for the period 2026-2028.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs emphasized that war crimes and crimes against humanity have no statute of limitations.
“The international community must show unity in confronting the aggressor and make efforts to hold Russia accountable for violating its commitments under the Convention,” the foreign ministry said.
As Ukrinform reported earlier, the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, at Ukraine’s request, conducted a study confirming the presence of a toxic chemical substance known as CS (a chemical warfare agent with an irritant effect) on the front line.
Photo: OPCW
2025-03-06 05:54:00 ,
