The Ukrainian commander of the Azov battalion in Mariupol, Denys Prokopenko, said on Tuesday through a video that there are several affected by a “poisonous substance of unknown origin” amid reports of an alleged Russian chemical attack.
The commander of a Ukrainian unit defending the city claimed that a handful of people had been affected. “The victims of the spread of a poisonous substance of unknown origin in the city of Mariupol are in a relatively satisfactory state,” Prokopenko said.
“Civilian contact with the substance was minimal, as the epicenter (of the incident) was some distance from the civilians' location. The military was a little closer,” added the commander, according to CNN.
Prokopenko's Telegram post features interviews with a soldier and two civilians, including an elderly woman, who were allegedly affected by the substance.
A military anesthetist who spoke on condition of anonymity said that the main symptoms of the victims are facial hyperemia, high blood pressure, dryness and inflammation in the oropharynx and mucous membranes of the eyes, according to CNN.
Maksym Zhorin, Azov's co-president, called the incident a “blatant crime”. “Many of us didn't think they did. But, probably out of the desperation of not being able to seize Mariupol for more than a month, they resorted to such cynical crimes and started using chemical weapons,” he said, according to CNN.
Speaking to national television, Ukrainian Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Maliar said “there is an assumption that it could have been phosphorus ammunition.”
“We have to understand that there is a very real threat to the use of chemical weapons,” he added.
The Azov battalion, which had its origins as a far-right militia and was integrated into the armed forces of Ukraine, is one of the resisting units in the besieged city of Mariupol.
UK investigates whether Russia used chemical weapons in Mariupol
The United Kingdom is trying to check whether Russian forces used chemical weapons in Mariupol, a port city in southeastern Ukraine that has been under siege for more than a month, and its government warned on Tuesday that there will be “an answer” if so.
“If they have been used, (Russian President Vladimir) Putin should know that all possible options will be on the table in terms of how the West might respond,” Secretary of State for the Armed Forces James Heappey told private channel Sky News.
“There are things that exceed all limits and the use of chemical weapons will have an answer,” he added.
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