A veteran of the Ukrainian Armed Forces wears a gas mask in Kyiv Oblast, Ukraine on April 28, 2024. (Valentyna Polishchuk/Global Images Ukraine via Getty Images)
Russia is increasingly using unidentified gases in its latest chemical war tactic against Ukrainian forces, who are losing the battle across the hotspots on the eastern frontline.
According to Ukrainian Colonel Artem Valasiuk, the country is currently unable identify the majority (or more) of the chemical used on the battlefield. In previous months, it was able to diagnose around half of them.
Vlasiuk, a member of the Support Forces’ Radiation, Chemical and Biological Protection Command, a branch within the army that is responsible for inspecting the chemical warfare, stated that Russian troops used banned chemical agents as a psychological attack to create panic among Ukrainian forces.
Russian drones have been known to throw gas grenades in trenches or dugouts as a brutal tactic. This is done to force Ukrainian soldiers into the open, making them easy targets for artillery or drone attacks.
Vlasiuk, a Kyiv Independent reporter on October 28, said that of the 323 cases of chemical attacks by Russia in October, “nearly all” were “unidentified”.
The officer said that Ukraine was unable to identify new types of gas due to its lack of sophisticated high-end detection technology to diagnose beyond a few prototypes in their library.
Vlasiuk said, “It’s dangerous for both our troops and Ukraine as a country. They won’t be able prove anything on the international stage.”
Allies of Kyiv need to provide more detectors
According to the colonel, Ukraine needs “hundreds of” complex detectors, which cost between $100,000 and $600,000. This will help identify exactly what Russian troops are using. He said that Kyiv needs to purchase additional simpler detectors, which are already used for identifying “dangerous chemical substances.”
Vlasiuk said that the lack of gas detectors makes it difficult for Ukraine to track what Russian troops are deployed, in what quantities, and in what parts of the frontline.
The colonel stated that it was difficult to gain Western interest in providing these sophisticated detections to Ukraine. Usually, other resources, such as ammunition or other essentials, are given priority.
He added that discussions are held in venues such as the Ramstein format, also known by the name Ukraine Defense Contact Group. These meetings are held almost monthly. The next one, which was delayed last month, will be held in November using a virtual conference calling format.
Hamish de Bretton Gordon, former commanding officers of the U.K. Joint Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear Regiment, said that identifying chemical agents was “very easy” when using the right detectors. He estimated that Ukraine may need “a few hundreds” of hand-held detectors, which cost between $10,000 and $50,000 each.
Detectors are useful for confirming war crimes and treating troops
Support Forces reports that Ukraine has recorded more than 4,600 cases of Russian attacks on the battlefield, since the full-scale invasion began in 2022. Vlasiuk said that the types of gas identified so far are CS, CS tear gas, ammonia and chlorineopicrin. He added that many more incidents could have been missed.
Even if tear gas is not lethal, its use on the battlefield violates the 1993 Chemical Weapons Convention. This post-Cold-War treaty bans the use chemical weapons in warfare and requires countries to eliminate them. The Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, a United Nations watchdog says that tear gas “is considered chemical weapons if it is used as a means of warfare.”
“We can detect CS but if the enemy uses another more complex, newer or a mixture that is similar in composition, but not CS we can’t identify,” Vlasiuk explained, explaining that presenting the evidence to Western allies as well as the OPCW can be difficult.
The Ukraine is concerned about the new types gas found on the battlefield as Russian troops continue their advance across the hotspots in the eastern Ukraine war, capturing increasingly villages and towns. The Ukrainian defense is stretched across the frontline, with many of their soldiers exhausted after fighting for nearly three years without a break.
It is particularly difficult to gather evidence in Russia’s Kursk Oblast where Ukraine launched an aggressive cross-border incursion last August.
A few soldiers in the area have told the Kyiv Independent they have been subjected to gas attacks in Kursk Oblast. One soldier even said that he has suffered multiple gas attacks a day.
Colonel Vlasiuk stated that he was aware of an incident that occurred in October in which five soldiers experienced mild symptoms as a result of a gas attack. He added that the inspection team couldn’t get to the scene to gather evidence.
According to the Support Forces, at least three soldiers have died as a result of Russian gas attacks and nearly 2,100 soldiers have sought medical attention after such incidents.
As gas is blown away by the wind on the battlefield, it’s difficult to collect an air sample. Other forms of evidence such as fragments or contaminated clothing may be more useful. This is according to Dan Kaszeta a chemical weapons specialist at the Royal United Services Institute in London, who was a member of the U.S. Army Chemical Corps.
He said that “there are expensive, specialized tools that can, in theory, analyze field samples, but they require specialist training.”
Kaszeta told The Kyiv Independent that “because of the size of this area, it is unlikely that even a very focused effort to deploy specialist detection equipment will be lucky enough to find the right equipment in the right place.”
Vlasiuk emphasized that by understanding the unidentified gas used by Russian troops, Ukraine can better treat the symptoms. He said that the symptoms were similar with the other confirmed types of gas used on the battlefield. Symptoms commonly cited include nausea, vomiting and eye and skin irritations.
Russia not held responsible for use of chemical weapons
The U.S., the U.K., and other countries have confirmed that Russia used chemical weapons against Ukrainian soldiers. They have imposed sanctions on Russia’s Radiological Chemical and Biological Defense troops, their commander, Russian Defense Ministry Scientific Centers, and companies involved.
Vlasiuk claims that the OPCW has not confirmed Russia’s use of chemical weapons in the battlefield.
OPCW stated in May that Russia has accused Ukraine of using chemical weapons. However, “the information provided by both sides to the Organization, as well as the information available to Secretariat is not sufficiently substantiated.”
Ukraine says that the intensity of the conflict makes it even more difficult to gather evidence of Russia’s gas use on the battlefield.
The monthly count of Russian gas grenades is down for the moment, with 10-20 incidents being recorded daily on the frontline. Vlasiuk said that Moscow seems to be concentrating their deployment in the hotter parts of the frontline, primarily the Pokrovsk Sector but also the Chasiv Yar or Kupiansk directions.
According to the officer, while Russia’s stockpile of Soviet-era K-51 grenades seems to be diminishing, more RG-Vo grenades – which were first detected in December 2020 – are being deployed.
Vlasiuk said that Moscow appears to be using RG-Vo grenades to continue waging chemical war, but it is unclear how many are being produced.
“Russian forces use chemical weapons on a large scale,” de Bretton Gordon said, estimating 30% of front line Ukrainian troops have been chemically attacked.
Vlasiuk claimed “all sites of production of chemical weapons are known” and Ukraine has located around ten factories which are either directly producing or related to them.
He said, “They now use and produce (RG-Vo grenades), normally.” “What (Russian) can put in is also unknown. We have no way to know.
Asami Terajima works as a reporter for the Kyiv Independent. She was a business journalist for the Kyiv Post, focusing on international energy, infrastructure and investment, as well as trade. Terajima, originally from Japan, moved to Ukraine as a child and earned a bachelor’s in Business Administration. She was awarded the George Weidenfeld Prize and the Thomson Reuters Foundation Kurt Schork International Journalism Award 2023 in the Local Reporter category. She was also included in the Media Development Foundation’s “25 under 25: young and bold” 2023 list for emerging media makers in Ukraine. Read more
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