Russian propagandists are spreading information that the Ukrainian Armed Forces allegedly used Western chemical weapons in Sudzha (Kursk region) in August 2024 under the guise of smoke shells. In reporting this, the propagandists refer to the words of the head of the NBC protection troops Kyryllov.

However, this information is fake, as the Center for Countering Disinformation writes. The Russian side has not provided any real evidence to support its statements. In addition, Ukraine, as a signatory to the Chemical Weapons Convention, strictly complies with its obligations. Also, it is the Russian military and war correspondents who periodically publish videos showing the use of chemical weapons against Ukrainian soldiers, which is a war crime and a violation of international law.

In this case, Russia resorts to the tactics of “reflection” propaganda, accusing Ukraine of a crime that it has repeatedly committed itself. That is, propagandists make the same accusations against Ukraine/USA/EU/the collective West that they make against Russia.

We have previously recorded a number of similar fakes concerning chemical weapons. For example, disinformation that the Ukrainian Armed Forces are allegedly preparing a chemical weapons strike in the Donetsk and Kherson directions.

Collaborators, representatives of the occupation authorities, claim that the Ukrainian leadership is “preparing” to use chemical and bacteriological weapons to contaminate the water bodies of the Kherson region. And they are supposedly blaming the Russians for this.

But there is no evidence that Ukraine has used or is going to use chemical or biological weapons in the combat zone or in the temporarily occupied territories. Moreover, such reports are accompanied by a number of similar comments on social networks, which allegedly indicate that Ukrainian troops are poisoning the water in wells in various settlements. All this may indicate a coordinated disinformation operation.

Moreover, the Secretariat of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) has not yet found any evidence of Ukraine using chemical weapons during the war. In May 2024, the United States announced the use of chemical weapons by the Russian Federation against Ukraine, namely chloropicrin, a chemical substance included in Schedule 3 of the Convention, as well as riot control agents.

In this way, propagandists promote the classic narrative about the existence of the so-called dirty bomb - that is, that Ukraine is ready to contaminate not only its own territories, but also others with all sorts of chemicals, including radiation. In fact, Ukraine has never developed the so-called dirty bomb, and all the statements of propagandists on this topic are fake. The explanation of Russian propaganda as to why Ukraine would detonate a dirty bomb on its territory is unfounded. Russia claims that Ukraine allegedly wanted to increase the number of Ukrainian refugees abroad (for an unknown reason), and also to pass off the dirty bomb as the explosion of a tactical nuclear charge of Russia itself, in order to accuse the latter of using nuclear weapons. Then the international community should have condemned such actions of the Kremlin and introduced new sanctions, perhaps even expelled Russia from the UN Security Council, and also increased arms supplies to Ukraine.

By the way, the report of the American Institute for the Study of War says that the propaganda statements about the development of a dirty bomb are needed to slow down the process of arms supplies to Ukraine. At the same time, analysts believe that Russia is unlikely to detonate the so-called dirty bomb itself: this is just another attempt to “feel out” the international community to find out the possible reaction to Russia's use of nuclear weapons.

Pro-Kremlin telegram channels are spreading information that the Ukrainian Armed Forces are going to use chemical weapons against the Russian military. The means of attack will supposedly be chlorine trifluoride. The product of the reaction is a heavy gas. And the first symptoms of the victim are chest pain, dizziness, nausea and headache.

However, information about the preparation of a chemical weapons strike is not true. This was reported by the Center for Countering Disinformation under the National Security and Defense Council. The Russian side does not provide any evidence of this “news”. In addition, Ukraine, as a signatory to the Convention on the Prohibition of the Development, Production, Stockpiling and Use of Chemical Weapons, strictly adheres to its obligations.

At the same time, it is the Russians who have repeatedly violated the Convention, which Russia has also signed, by using chemical weapons against the Ukrainian military. The so-called “z-military correspondents” published the red-handed video on their pages.

With this fake, propagandists aim to discredit Ukraine in the eyes of the world community and weaken its support from Western allies. Russian propaganda uses deflection tactics, accusing Ukraine of the crimes of its own army.

Pro-Russian resources accuse the Armed Forces of Ukraine of preparing an alleged anti-Russian provocation using toxic military substances. At the same time, world structures will allegedly blame Russia for this - following the example of “false accusations of Russia in chemical attacks in Syria”. It's fake.

Specialists from the StopFake project investigated this case. In fact, Ukraine is a party to the Chemical Weapons Convention, an international treaty that entered into force in the country in 1998. Since the start of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the Secretariat of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) has been closely monitoring the state of Ukrainian chemical industries and any threats to use toxic chemicals as weapons in the country. Ukraine adheres to its international obligations on the non-use and non-proliferation of chemical weapons; this fact has been repeatedly confirmed by the OPCW, which operates under the auspices of the UN. All Russian accusations that Ukraine is preparing so-called “provocations” are cynical, and the narratives have no factual or evidentiary basis.

The statement about “falsely accusing Russia” of carrying out chemical attacks in Syria is also disinformation. Russian fakes on this topic have been repeatedly refuted by the world's leading experts on toxic chemicals, including the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons.

Propagandists are once again trying to present Ukraine, which is defending itself from Russia, as an aggressor. Thus, they also want to justify the crimes of their own army in Ukraine, saying that Russia is resisting evil and has come to the neighboring country to “restore order”.

• Read also: The Ukrainian army allegedly used chemical weapons.

Such messages are spread by Russian propaganda to foreign audiences. The reports refer to the words of the head of the Russian troops of radiation, chemical and biological protection, Ihor Kyrylov. He claims that “preparation for the crime is in full swing”." Like, psychotropic weapons have already been taken to the territory of Ukraine. In particular, sixteen hermetically sealed metal boxes were allegedly delivered to Kramatorsk in a railway carriage accompanied by foreigners, half of them had a chemical hazard sign BZ (Chinuclidil-3-benzilate). Also supposedly on the boxes there is a marking with two red lines, which corresponds to a certain class of toxic substances. It is not true.

EU vs Disinfo analysts drew attention to the spread of the fake. They note that Russia did not provide any evidence to support what was said. At the same time, such reports nourish Russian narratives about Ukraine's alleged use of biological, chemical and nuclear weapons against Russia. Russian propaganda also recently spread reports that radioactive substances were brought to Ukraine for provocations against Russia.

Thus, Russian propaganda is trying to destabilize the situation in Ukraine, because if any of these types of weapons are used, civilians living near the front line are also at risk. The Russians intimidate Ukrainians and try to instill distrust in the Ukrainian authorities and partner states.

Pro-Russian telegram channels disseminate  information about a large-scale provocation allegedly being prepared by Kyiv to accuse Russia of “dirty violation” of the requirements of the Nuclear Safety Convention. Allegedly, for this, barrels with radioactive substances were brought to the Odesa port of Chornomorsk, as a result of which the port workers received radioactive exposure. It is not true.

The information was denied by the head spokesman of the Odesa regional military administration Serhii Bratchuk. According to the VoxCheck fact-checkers, there is no confirmation of this information in official sources. “Odesa regional center for disease control and prevention of the Ministry of Health of Ukraine” systematically conducts radiation observations and dosimetric control in the Odesa region, including the city of Chornomorsk. In recent days, the radiation background, both in Chornomorsk and in the Odesa region as a whole was normal, no deviations were recorded.

The narrative about possible Ukrainian provocations with the use of nuclear weapons or a “dirty bomb” has been nourished by Russian propaganda for a long time. In particular, in October they wrote that Ukraine was working on the creation of a “dirty” nuclear bomb, that Kyiv was preparing a provocation to detonate it. Propagandists also distributed fake photos allegedly proving the creation of a “dirty bomb” by Ukraine. Thus, Russia is resorting to nuclear blackmail and is trying to intimidate Ukraine and other democracies into negotiating on its own terms.

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.

On December 13, this information was circulated in English on Twitter by the Russian Embassy in London. This post was shared among the English-speaking sector on Twitter. Also, the Russian media published relevant news with reference to the embassy.

On the embassy’s page, a video was circulated as evidence, in which the Ukrainian military is working with drones, attaching details with the inscription “OB” to them. Russian propagandists in the diplomatic mission believe that the Ukrainian military is apparently preparing to use chemical weapons, probably phosgene. Allegedly, the video shows gas cylinders with the inscription “OB”, which means “poisonous ammunition”.

In fact, the Russians distributed edited excerpts of a video published in a telegram by the Ukrainian military, the commander of the Madiar Birds aerial reconnaissance group with the call sign Madiar. He showed how Ukrainian aerial reconnaissance officers assemble the Molfar folk kamikaze drone with a warhead on their own. In another video, Madiar demonstrated how kamikaze drones work near Soledar at a Russian military point.

Russian propagandists are stuffing with fakes into the information space about the possible use of chemical weapons by the Ukrainian military in order to change the topic from their own failures near Bakhmut and Soledar, which they planned to capture before January 1, 2023.

Russia has repeatedly accused Ukraine of using and distributing banned weapons. Earlier, the Russian Defense Ministry recorded an alleged chemical attack on the Russian military from a Ukrainian drone and unmanned vehicles of the Armed Forces of Ukraine were found for spraying chemicals.

Ukraine ratified the international Chemical Weapons Convention, which includes phosphorus, in 1998. Then the entire chemical arsenal that Ukraine inherited from the USSR was destroyed. At the same time, Russia is using banned weapons in Ukraine.

The network is spreading a message that Ukraine allegedly supplied Azerbaijan with banned white phosphorus ammunition during the Armenian-Azerbaijani war in the fall of 2020. Robert Menendez, chairman of the US Senate Committee on Foreign Affairs, said this. This is not true.

Speaking at the hearings on the consideration of US policy in the Caucasus, Robert Menendez really accused Azerbaijan of violating humanitarian law during the Armenian-Azerbaijani war in the fall of 2020, in particular, in the use of ammunition containing white phosphorus. He also said that these munitions were supplied by Ukraine. Mendez neither specified what kind of a "report" he was referring to, nor did he provide any other evidence that Ukraine did indeed transfer banned weapons to Azerbaijan. He added that in the fall of 2020, this information was "widely covered" in the media. Philip Reeker, senior adviser for Caucasus negotiations at the US State Department, denied the existence of such reports.

According to StopFake, in early November 2020, Russian media, citing the Russian film director of Armenian origin Sarik Andreasian, spread information that Ukraine allegedly supplies Azerbaijan with phosphorus bombs, which they use to bombard Nahirnyi-Karabakh. Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said that Ukraine did not provide any military assistance to Azerbaijan during the war, although it supported the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan.

The Russian propaganda media spread this thesis. Russia allegedly completed the destruction of toxic substances on September 27, 2017, as representatives of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons testified on the spot. The reports add that only one country currently has chemical weapons, the United States. However, it isn't true. Analysts of the EU vs Disinfo project drew attention to the case.

According to an experts' report, in September 2017, Russia destroyed a large stockpile of chemical weapons. As the OPCW testified at the time, these were only the remnants of declared stockpiles that Russia had been obliged to destroy since 2007 under the 1993 Chemical Weapons Convention. Analysts explain that Russia not only possesses other undeclared stockpiles but has repeatedly used chemical weapons against its alleged enemies both in Russia and abroad. In particular, this is evidenced by the attacks on Oleksiy Navalnyy, former Russian spy Serhii Skrypal, and Bulgarian arms dealer Emilian Gebrev. It is important that the attacks on Skrypal and Navalnyy took place after 2017, when Russia should no longer have chemical weapons.

At the same time, it's profitable for propagandists to claim that Russia doesn't have prohibited weapons and doesn't violate the Conventions that it has ratified. This way, Russia observes all the international rules and documents that declare a false and illusory impression of it.

Russian media write about this with reference to the head of the Service for Protection against Chemical, Biological and Radioactive Weapons. They say that the Ukrainian authorities turned to Bayraktar, a drone manufacturing company, with a request to equip these drones with equipment for spraying chemicals, which could pose a real threat to Russia. It is not true.

According to the fact-checker of the EUvsDisinfo project, there is no evidence to confirm that Ukraine is preparing a chemical or biological provocation or the use of weapons of mass destruction. On the contrary, many Western leaders are genuinely concerned that Russia might use chemical weapons. Russia also constantly threatens the world with the use of nuclear weapons.

This was reported in the Russian Ministry of Defense. Allegedly, several Russian military men who were in the territory of the occupied Zaporizhzhia region of Ukraine were found to have a poisonous substance - botulinum toxin type "B". This substance is an organic poison of artificial origin.

Mykhailo Podoliak, an adviser to the head of the President's Office, believes that they were poisoned by alcohol.

So, having carefully read the official statement of the Russian Ministry of Defense regarding the poisoning of the military of the Russian occupation army in the Ukrainian city of Vasilievka, Zaporizhzhia region and the accusation of Ukraine of using "chemical weapons" (by the way, they are talking about this with all seriousness), we can say this (also seriously ):

Excessive consumption of cheap unlicensed alcohol in a 40-degree heat, along with expired dry rations of the "Russian army" can definitely lead to unpredictable consequences. Ukrainian land will never be hospitable to Russian invaders. Endless vomiting is even better that can await you here. However, we understand that it’s not the right time to expect adequacy from you, so continue to tell “fables of good will” about the large-scale use of “alcoholic chemical weapons”,” Podoliak replied. Earlier, the Russian Defense Ministry recorded alleged chemical attacks on the Russian military from a Ukrainian drone and found unmanned AFU apartments for spraying chemicals.