Did Russia use chemical weapons to capture a key Ukrainian village?

Russia wants a win, no matter the cost
What happened in Ocheretyne?
A contested village
Comments from Nazar Voloshyn
The situation was difficult
Use everything to take Ocheretyne
Did Russia take the village?
Reports suggest Russia took Ocheretyne
A Russian flag above the village
Why is the win important?
A local rail hub
Close to Pokrovsk
What chemical weapons were used?
Not the first report of chemical weapons
Russia used tear gas with Chloropicrin
Using tear gas from drones
Banned by the Geneva Protocol of 1925
Russia wants a win, no matter the cost

Russia wants to win the war in Ukraine no matter the cost. The Russian military has shown on more than one occasion that they are willing to bend the rules of war to get what they want.

What happened in Ocheretyne?

The Russian Armed Forces allegedly used chemical weapons as part of an offensive to capture a village in Donetsk Oblast according to one Ukrainian official. Here is what we know about the claim and why it matters. 

A contested village

The village of Ocheretyne had been a hotly contested area of the front following the fall of Avdiivka and Russian forces have been throwing whatever weapons they can at the area, some including chemical weapons. 

Comments from Nazar Voloshyn

Nazar Voloshyn is the spokesperson for Ukraine’s Khortytsia Group of Forces, which is the grouping of forces operating in the area, and he explained on April 23rd that Russia was using whatever it could to take Ocheretyne.

Photo Credit: Telegram @Khortytsky_wind

The situation was difficult

Voloshyn explained that the “situation in the area of the settlement of Ocheretyne in the Donetsk region is difficult” according to Ukrainform, which quoted the remarks Voloshyn made in a Telegram post about the fighting. 

Use everything to take Ocheretyne

“In an effort to capture the settlement, the enemy is using the entire available arsenal of weapons against our units, including chemical poisons, and is trying to gain a foothold in the southern part of Ocheretyne," Voloshyn added. 

Did Russia take the village?

Back in April Voloshyn revealed that the greater part of Ocheretyne was under the control of Russian forces and added that the southern portion of the village was under artillery fire control from the Ukrainian Armed Forces. 

Reports suggest Russia took Ocheretyne

Measures were being taken to stabilize the situation in Ocheretyne, Voloshyn noted, but reports began to surface on April 24th that suggested the village fell to Russia based on images from pro-Russian military bloggers. 

 

A Russian flag above the village

The Guardian reported that military bloggers published videos online that displayed the Russian flag flying above Ocheretyne. The loss of Ocheretyne would prove to be a major blow to Ukrainian forces in the area. 

Photo Credit: Telegram @rsotmdivision

Why is the win important?

The capture of Ocheretyne, which according to the New York Times was confirmed on May 5, 2024,  means Russia has managed to bypass the northern flank of Ukraine’s recently constructed forward line, including minefields and trenches,” according to Luke Harding and Dan Sabbage of the Guardian. 

Photo Credit: X @War_Mapper

A local rail hub

“The village — once home to 3,000 people, and a local road and rail hub — sits at the intersection of a network of defenses,” Harding and Sabbage added. The Ocheretyne capture put Russia within 30 km or roughly 18.5 mi of Pokrovsk. 

Close to Pokrovsk

Pokrovsk is important because it is the main Ukrainian garrison in the region that  Kyiv uses to rotate out its troops and equipment. Harding and Sabbage noted this could be Russia’s next operational target. 

What chemical weapons were used?

The Kyiv Independent reported that Voloshyn did not specify which types of chemical weapons had been used against Ukrainian forces in Ocheretyne but added that “hundreds of cases of the use of suffocating and tear gas grenades” had been recorded since the invasion began. 

Photo Credit: Facebook @GeneralStaff.ua

Not the first report of chemical weapons

In March 2024, the Command of the Support Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine reported 1,068 cases of chemical irritants equipped with poisonous chemicals had been recorded according to Militaryni. But these aren’t the weapons that you’re thinking. 

Russia used tear gas with Chloropicrin

“Russians are increasingly using ammunition with a poisonous substance. In total, over the past week, grenades with the poisonous substance Chloropicrin have been dropped from drones almost 50 times," explained Tavria operational-strategic group spokesman Captain Dmytro Lykhoviy according to Militaryni.

Photo Credit: Wiki Commons By Mil.gov.ua, CC BY 4.0

Using tear gas from drones

"When the enemy cannot take our trenches with a classic artillery strike, or a discharge from a drone, he uses such tear gas,” Captain Lykhoviy. The attacks are part of a growing trend seeing Russian forces using banned chemicals in the war.

Banned by the Geneva Protocol of 1925

The Kyiv Post noted riot control gasses and other tear gasses are classified as weapons on the battlefield and prohibited in war under the Geneva Protocol of 1925. 

Photo Credit: Wiki Commons By Mil.gov.ua, CC BY 4.0

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