13 April 2022

OPCW launches training initiative to educate new generation of experts on Chemical Weapons Convention (Homeland Preparedness News)

Backed by the European Union, the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) created and launched a new training initiative this week to raise awareness among universities, academics, and researchers about the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) and global disarmament.

12 April 2022

U.S. cannot confirm use of chemical weapons in Ukraine, Blinken says (Reuters)

The United States is not in position to confirm reports of the use of chemical weapons in Ukraine but was working to determine what actually happened, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on April 12.

12 April 2022

EXPLAINER: How to investigate alleged chemical attacks (ABC News)

An explainer on how an alleged chemical weapons attack would be investigated.

12 April 2022

Statement on Ukraine from the OPCW spokesperson (OPCW)

The Technical Secretariat of the OPCW is monitoring closely the situation in Ukraine. Since the beginning of the conflict, the OPCW Technical Secretariat has remained in contact with concerned States Parties. The Secretariat has received from both the Russian Federation and Ukraine correspondence regarding threats of use of toxic chemicals as weapons and shared it with all 193 Member States of the OPCW as requested.

12 April 2022

Fighting in Ukraine impedes investigation of poison-gas claims (The Washington Post)

U.S. officials and weapons experts say it can be difficult from afar to draw firm conclusions based on symptoms reported by victims and even harder to obtain physical samples that are guaranteed to be free from tampering. A proper investigation takes time, they say, but as the hours and days pass, there often is less hard evidence to collect.

12 April 2022

Preliminary estimates suggest up to 22,000 have died in Mariupol, Donetsk military governor says (CNN)

“We know that last night around midnight, a drone dropped some so-far-unknown explosive device, people who were in the area in and around the Mariupol metallurgical plant, three people began to feel unwell,” Pavlo Kyrylenko, the head of the Donetsk regional military administration, told CNN. “What we have heard was that there were three people who were affected, taken to hospital, given medical assistance, at the moment their lives were not in danger.”

12 April 2022

Ukraine’s Zelenskiy warns Russia could use chemical weapons, calls for more sanctions (Reuters)

There were unconfirmed reports on Monday, April 11, suggesting that chemical weapons were used in the besieged southern Ukrainian port of Mariupol. “We treat this with the utmost seriousness,” Zelenskiy said in his nightly video address on Monday. He did not say chemical weapons had already been used, but warned that Russia could use them. Petro Andryushchenko, an aide to the mayor of Mariupol, wrote on his Telegram channel that he expected to provide details and clarifications later.

11 April 2022

Pentagon monitoring reports of possible Russian chemical weapons attack in Mariupol (CNBC)

Defense Department press secretary John Kirby said the Pentagon was closely monitoring reports Monday evening of a possible Russian chemical weapons attack on the besieged Ukrainian city of Mariupol. “We are aware of social media reports which claim Russian forces deployed a potential chemical munition in Mariupol, Ukraine,” Kirby said Monday. “We cannot confirm at this time and will continue to monitor the situation closely.”