Moscow accuses US of preparing a ‘toxic chemicals’ provocation in Ukraine

Above, an empty street as shelling continues in Bakhmut, amid Russia’s military operation on Ukraine. (AFP)

• Former US ambassador to Russia John Sullivan cited as saying that ‘Russian troops plan to use chemical weapons in the special military operation area’
• ‘We regard this information as the intention of the United States and their accomplices to carry out a provocation in Ukraine using toxic chemicals’

The United States is planning a provocation in Ukraine using toxic chemicals, the Russian defense ministry said on Tuesday.
The ministry cited former US ambassador to Russia John Sullivan as saying that “Russian troops plan to use chemical weapons in the special military operation area.”
“We regard this information as the intention of the United States and their accomplices to carry out a provocation in Ukraine using toxic chemicals,” Igor Kirillov, chief of the radiation, chemical and biological defense troops of Russia’s armed forces said during a briefing.
He said that Russia “will identify and punish the true culprits.”