Chris Lange, FISM News
Ukraine’s National Guard Azov regiment has accused Russia of using chemical weapons during an assault on the port city of Mariupol Monday afternoon, according to a report.
The missile attack included a “poisonous substance” that resulted in “respiratory failure, vestibulo-atactic syndrome,” Azov leader Andriy Biletsky said, as reported in the Kyiv Independent. Biletsky added that the alleged attack did not result in “disastrous consequences.”
The U.S. and the U.K. have been unable to confirm the accusations, though Pentagon Press Secretary John Kirby said such an attack potentially included “tear gas mixed with chemical agents,” adding that the U.S. is investigating the claim. British Junior Defense Minister James Heappey said “all options were on the table,” should it be confirmed that Russia has used chemical weapons in Ukraine, according to Reuters.
A spokesman for Moscow-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine has denied using chemical weapons.
Mariupol death toll at 10,000; 20,000 expected, mayor says
Fears of mass civilian deaths in Mariupol, now under siege for six weeks, were confirmed Monday when the city’s mayor, Vadym Boychenko, reported more than 10,000 deaths, though he estimates the number is closer to 20,000. Boychenko said the city’s streets are “carpeted” with corpses, according to the Associated Press. The mayor has accused Russian forces of blocking humanitarian convoys into the city in an attempt to conceal the scale of the carnage there from the outside world. Approximately 120,000 civilians remain trapped without food and water.
Boychenko also stated that Russian forces have brought in mobile cremation equipment to dispose of victims’ bodies and have been taking scores of corpses to a large shopping center where there are refrigerators and storage facilities.
“Mobile crematoriums have arrived in the form of trucks: You open it, and there is a pipe inside and these bodies are burned,” Boychenko said.
Pentagon responds to China’s claim it sent military supplies into Serbia
Elsewhere Monday, Pentagon Press Secretary John Kirby said he could not confirm reports that China’s Foreign Ministry sent shipments of military supplies into Russian-ally Serbia over the weekend as a potentially indirect means of supporting Moscow’s war on Ukraine.
China’s state media reported Monday that its PLA Air Force “sent three anti-aircraft systems in a dozen covert sorties” to Serbia over the weekend. The report indicated that the shipments contained “regular military resources…not related to the ‘present state of affairs.’”
“We can’t confirm those reports,” Kirby said in response to a reporter’s question. “I’ve seen the press reports, but we’re not in a position to confirm that idea that China might be sending systems into Serbia, so it’d be difficult since I can’t confirm it for me to speculate as to what the purpose might be,” he continued.
When asked if such a shipment would be cause for concern, Kirby replied, “Look, I mean we would certainly not want to see anything flow in that could be of an advantage to the Russians, okay?”
Meanwhile, U.S. officials confirmed that Russia’s military appears to be preparing for a major offensive in the separatist-backed Donbas region of Ukraine. Military analysts say the movement likely signals a new strategy to draw Ukrainian soldiers out into the open in more conventional warfare, as opposed to the hit-and-run attacks Ukrainians have been using, often with success.
A senior U.S. defense official on Monday said that a long Russian convoy is making its way toward the eastern city of Izyum and is loaded with artillery, aviation and infantry support for Moscow’s anticipated campaign in the east. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said that ground combat units that withdrew from around Kyiv and Chernihiv will likely be refitted and resupplied before repositioning in the east.
“It’s clear evidence of what we’ve been saying for a while now that the Russians are going to want to pour more of their assets into the Donbas,” the official said.