After Kiev's complaints, confirmation now also comes from the United States , where the State Department has no doubts that Russian troops used chloropicrin , a banned chemical substance , against the Ukrainian armed forces.
Chloropicrin, a suffocating and tear-forming chemical agent capable of inducing vomiting, is able to overcome the barrier of gas masks due to the small size of the molecule. Inhalation of chloropicrin vapors in concentrations greater than 2 mg/liter of air for as little as 10 minutes is generally lethal , causing suffocation due to acute pulmonary edema .
“The use of such chemicals is not an isolated incident and is likely driven by Russian forces seeking to dislodge Ukrainian forces from fortified positions and gain tactical advantages on the battlefield ,” the State Department noted.
In the meantime, the dramatic images, collected in a video, of the city of Khasiv Yar, in eastern Ukraine, bombed for months by Russian forces , have been released by the Associated Press.
Only the golden dome of the church remained intact , but the other buildings appear totally destroyed. The total capture of the city would allow the Kremlin army "control of the hill from which to attack the backbone of the Ukrainian defense."
“The destruction underscores the scorched earth tactics that Russia has used during more than two years of war,” writes the Associated Press.
(Unioneonline/vl)
