Russian propagandists spread a number of fakes within the same topic: allegedly the Ukrainian army used chemical weapons at the front. The Russian media refer to the statements of a number of “officials” of the so-called “DNR”. According to them, a number of Russian fighters have “nausea, vomiting, severe dizziness”. Telegram channels are spreading a video where supposedly Ukrainians drop a grenade from a drone and, after the explosion, a Russian soldier has convulsions, which causes him to drown. In addition, the Russians say that allegedly even the Ukrainian military “exposed” chemical munitions in the video. Propagandists also claim that this is not the first time Ukraine has used chemical weapons. All of these are baseless accusations.

StopFake analysts denied these fakes. In particular, if we are talking about a video of dropping a grenade, its full version shows that in fact this is an attack with two grenades. The first of them knocked out the Russian soldiers, disorienting them in the water. This explains their convulsions. In addition, there are no prohibited weapons in the video: the military used an F-1 grenade and a VOG fragmentation munition.

The video where a military man “exposed a chemical weapon” is about the commander of a separate tactical aerial reconnaissance group “Madyar Birds” by Robert Brovdi (“Madyar”). In it, you can see the allowed VOG shells (grenade launcher shot). Together with the FPV drone, they form a kamikaze drone.

Western media also drew attention to these messages of propagandists. In particular, Reuters journalists failed to confirm the use of chemical weapons by the Ukrainian army. In a commentary for the publication, the General Staff stated that the Ukrainian military “never used chemical weapons anywhere”.

StopFake also reminds that in 1998 Ukraine ratified the international Chemical Weapons Convention. At the same time, the entire chemical arsenal that Ukraine inherited from the USSR was destroyed, which was confirmed by international observers.