Dan Kaszeta, the chemical weapons expert from the Royal United Services Institute (Rusi), urged to take care over claims that chemical weapons may have been used during an attack on the southern Ukrainian port city of Mariupol.
He said, "Let's look at the place. It's a steelworks. There's lots of scope in an industrial setting for conventional or incendiary weapons to cause chemical problems because of fires and explosions."
"Also, look at the broader environment. Mariupol is one big toxic burn pit at the moment. Somehow we're supposed to assume that one small drone payload of something is tragically unhealthier than the rest of this mess of an environment" he added.
Russia launched a war on Ukraine on February 24. However, according to the latest updates, Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky voiced concerns that Russian forces could use chemical weapons in Ukraine but did not confirm whether they had been used in his daily video address late on Monday. Earlier on Monday evening, Ukrainian authorities claimed Russia dropped a drone carrying a toxic substance on the south-eastern city of Mariupol. However, more than 10,000 civilians have died in Mariupol, the city’s mayor has said. Meanwhile, Ukrainian authorities are warning people not to go near what they say are landmines being dropped on Kharkiv.