“Today, the occupiers issued a new statement, which testifies to their preparation for a new stage of terror against Ukraine and our defenders,” Zelesnky said early Tuesday. “One of the spokespersons of the occupiers stated that they could use chemical weapons against the defenders of Mariupol. “We take it as seriously as we can.” Andriy Biletsky, the leader of the Azov Volunteer Regiment, claimed on Monday that three people in the southern port city had been “poisoned by war chemicals, but without catastrophic consequences”. However, Petri Andriuschenko, Mariupol’s deputy mayor, wrote that the chemical attack had not been confirmed and that officials were “waiting for official information from the army”. British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss said work was under way to verify the allegation, adding: “Any use of such weapons would be a tough escalation in this conflict and we will keep [Vladimir] “Putin and his regime must be held accountable.” Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said he was aware of the reports but could not confirm them. “These reports, if true, are deeply troubling and reflect our concerns about Russia’s ability to use a variety of riot control agents, including tear gas canisters, in Ukraine,” he said. Western officials have previously expressed concern that Russia, finding its February 24 invasion of its neighbor to lead to a protracted conflict, could resort to more extreme measures, including chemical weapons. Recent developments in Russia’s war with Ukraine Russian troops have been besieging the city in the Sea of Azov since early March. The territory controlled by the Ukrainian forces has gradually shrunk in some central areas. The surviving Marines are now at the Azovstal Iron and Steel Plant next to the port. The last Ukrainian soldiers defending Mariupol said they had “run out of ammunition” on Monday and were expected to be killed or captured very soon by Russian forces surrounding the city. Vadym Boychenko, the mayor of Mariupol, told the Associated Press on Monday that more than 10,000 civilians had been killed in his hometown and that the death toll could exceed 20,000 as weeks of attacks and deprivation leave the bodies of Mariupol people. rugged in the streets “. Boichenko also accused Russian forces of blocking humanitarian convoys in the city for weeks in an attempt to hide the massacre there from the outside world. Mariupol has been cut off from Russian attacks that began shortly after Russian President Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine in late February, and has suffered some of the most brutal attacks in the war. Boychenko gave new details about recent allegations by Ukrainian officials that Russian forces had brought mobile incineration equipment to dispose of the bodies of the victims of the siege. “Mobile crematoria have arrived in the form of trucks: You open it and there is a pipe inside and these bodies are burning,” he said. Russian forces transported many bodies to a huge mall where there is storage space and refrigerators, he said. About 120,000 people are in dire need of food, water, warmth and communications, the mayor said. Only those residents who have passed the Russian “filter camps” are liberated from the city, Boychenko said. Improvised prisons were set up for those who did not pass the “filtering”, while at least 33,000 people were taken to Russia or to separatist territories in Ukraine, he claimed. A pro-Russian separatist official, Eduard Basurin, appeared to be using chemical weapons on Monday, telling Russian state television that Russian-backed forces would have to seize a giant metal plant in Mariupol, blocking all the factory. “And then we will use chemical troops to smoke them from there,” he said. Ukrainian lawmaker Ivanna Klympush said Russia had used an “unknown substance” in Mariupol and that people were suffering from respiratory failure, but did not know if chemical weapons had been used. Nearly two-thirds of all Ukrainian children – 4.8 million – have fled their homes since the start of the Russian invasion, the UN Children’s Office said on Monday. The UN has verified the deaths of 142 young people, although the number is almost certainly much higher, the agency said. It comes as the UN hears more and more reports of rape and sexual violence in Ukraine and has called for an investigation into violence against women and increased protection for Ukrainian children. “The combination of mass deportations with the effects of high pressure on conscripts and mercenaries and the barbarity shown against Ukrainian civilians has raised all the red flags,” Sima Bahous, executive director of the UN Women, told the UN Security Council. Ukraine’s ombudsman said she had recorded horrific acts of sexual violence by Russian troops in Bhutan and elsewhere, including a case in which women and girls were held underground for 25 days, the New York Times reported. Nine of these victims are now pregnant, according to mediator Lyudmyla Denisova. In other developments:
U.S. officials have signaled new signs that the Russian military is preparing for a major offensive in Ukraine’s eastern Donbass, shifting its focus after failing in its initial attempt to seize Kyiv. A senior U.S. defense official described a long convoy now heading to the eastern city of Izyum with artillery, air and infantry support as part of the rearrangement to the east. Ukrainian authorities warn people not to approach, as they say, minefields in Kharkov. Zelensky also spoke of “hundreds of thousands of dangerous objects”, including mines and shells that had not been detonated by Russian forces in areas of northern Ukraine. Austrian Chancellor Carl Nehammer said he had told Putin during the cold-blooded talks that “all those responsible” for war crimes should be brought to justice and warned that Western sanctions would intensify as people continue to die in Ukraine. Sweden’s ruling party has begun debating whether the country should join NATO, and neighboring Finland expects a decision within weeks, with Moscow warning that Scandinavian membership “will not bring stability” to Europe.
