Russia threatens chemical attacks on Mariupol

Olena Roshchina – Monday, 11 April 2022, 16:16

Eduard Basurin, press secretary of the DPR military command, said that Ukrainian troops defending Mariupol must be encircled in the Azovstal plant and attacked with chemical weapons.

Source: RIA Novosti [RIA News], on Telegram

Details: Denys Pushylin, leader of the unrecognised Donetsk People’s Republic, has said that at least 1,500 Ukrainian soldiers are encircled near the Azovstal plant.

Basurin, one of the leaders of the so-called "national militia of the Donetsk People’s Republic," stated that there was no point in trying to storm the underground fortifications in the Azovstal plant in Mariupol.

According to Basurin: "There is no point in storming this facility [the Azovstal plant] because of its underground levels. Because we can lose many of our soldiers without doing any damage to the opponent.

So right now we have to figure out how to blockade this plant, to find all entry and exit points – in theory, this can be done. And then, I think, we’d have to ask the chemical specialists, who will find a way to smoke those rats out of their holes."

Background: On the morning of 11 April, British defence intelligence reported that there is a high likelihood of Russian troops using phosphorous munitions in the blockaded Mariupol.

Civilians who still remain in Mariupol are completely blockaded and suffering a humanitarian crisis. Ukrainian soldiers are courageously defending the city, but it is currently impossible to supply them with military aid.

Reference: Chemical weapons are weapons of mass destruction, the use of which has been banned by several international agreements.