Russia uses World War I chemical weapons against Ukrainians

K-51 grenades with chloropicrin cause lung damage.

Russian forces advancing in eastern Ukraine are using World War I-era chemical weapons in an attempt to dislodge the defending Kyiv units.

Colonel Oleksandr Shtupun, the spokesman for the joint press center of the Defense Forces of the Tauri region, said on January 30 that Russian troops used “K-51 grenades with chloropicrin” during attacks on Kyiv positions.

The substance is a compound widely used in the agricultural industry due to its antimicrobial, fungicidal, herbicidal and insecticidal properties. But it was also used as a chemical weapon because of its irritant effect, particularly in the First World War.

“The enemy continues to violate the customs of warfare and use ammunition with poisonous substances of chemical origin. Five such drops were recorded yesterday. They are probably K-51 grenades with chloropicrin. But each such case is investigated separately, appropriate analyzes are made, and then it is transferred to international institutions,” Shtupun said.

He also added that the gas is particularly dangerous when it enters the dugouts, and that the use of gas masks can protect soldiers who fall victim to Russian chemical attacks.

Since the start of the full-scale invasion in February 2022, there have been numerous reports of Russian forces using K-51 chloropicrin grenades against Ukrainian positions along the entire front line.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has designated chloropicrin as a “lung-damaging substance.” The compound, according to the agency, “has a highly irritating odor” and its exposure can “severely irritate the lungs, eyes and skin.” Battlefield reports from World War I state that soldiers exposed to chloropicrin often suffered from vomiting.

The compound, “when applied in high concentrations in a specific area, seeped into masks and caused intolerable eye irritation, coughing, vomiting and inflammation of the respiratory tract,” according to the US military’s Leavenworth Papers, published in 1984, detailing the use chemical weapons during the First World War.

Earlier it became known that the Russians have already carried out more than 460 chemical attacks in Ukraine since the beginning of the full-scale invasion on February 24, 2022.