A research institute outside Moscow is manufacturing chemical weapons that Russia’s military has deployed in Ukraine — in violation of international law — a report by Skhemy (lit. “Schemes”), the investigative unit of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty’s Ukrainian service, has found.
The Applied Chemistry Research Institute in Sergiyev Posad, a town just over 40 miles northeast of Moscow, sources the components for its grenades from companies across Russia that have not yet been hit by Western sanctions. The facility also receives materials from Chinese firms which it uses to produce banned phosphorus munitions, the investigation revealed.
Despite its obligations under the Chemical Weapons Convention, Russia has not abandoned such weapons but has instead modernized and expanded their production. Since the start of the full-scale invasion, the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) has documented more than 10,000 chemical attacks on its country’s troops — mostly with RG-Vo (РГ-Во) grenades, short for “hand grenade with toxic substance,” which were introduced to Russia’s arsenal in December 2023, according to Skhemy. The grenades are widely used by Russian units, including the 114th and 136th Motorized Rifle Brigades and detachments of the National Guard (Rosgvardiya).
The weapons contain toxic CS and CN gases. While their production is not formally banned, using them in combat violates international law. Russian forces employ the RG-Vo to flush Ukrainian soldiers from dugouts and other shelters before attacking. The grenades have been displayed at exhibitions and on television broadcasts by state-controlled propaganda channel RT, but the Kremlin denies using them.
How the grenades are used
- After pulling the pin and securing the safety lever, the grenade is attached to a quadcopter (a four-rotor drone).
- The operator flies it over Ukrainian positions and drops it into a dugout.
- Toxic smoke quickly fills the space. Soldiers either put on gas masks or flee for air.
- Once they leave cover, Russian troops open fire.
Please remind me, how exactly is the West losing again?
Probably watches RT 24/7 or so. But still, the disinfo person got 5 upvotes for that comment^^
You libs are always so confident of your stereotypes. RT’s coverage rarely interests me. Any honest map maker knows the direction this conflict is going
Yeah, because maps surely do tell us how well a war is going…
Dirt isn’t what determines victory or defeat in a war. It never has. It’s whoever has to stop fighting first. Russia is losing their ability to refine oil, and their citizens are being made to get by without gas for their cars, as one example where Russia is struggling. Not to mention all the dead and their inability to field vehicles larger than a motorcycle for the most part now.
(Also, if we’re using taking ground as a measure, Russia is moving literally slower than a snail’s pace. IIRC a snail would have crossed Ukraine by now. Russia, at their average pace, would take another few decades, and they’ve been gaining very little ground recently —in fact, they’ve lost a not-insignificant amount recently too.)
Tell me you have no idea about what’s going on with the front line without actually saying it…
City after city, field after field, the Ukrainians contest impossible encircled positions, taking huge losses. It will be the same in this next batch of cities unless the Ukrainians can pull their head out of their ass and actually have strategic vision.
If you want to actually know what’s going on, here are two solid neutral mappers to watch:
Do westerners really believe this? The Ukrainians do some damage to one refinery and suddenly the world’s commodity superpower is struggling to fuel its vehicles?
Are you actually believing the Russian casualty figures put out by the Ukrainians? Objective evidence suggests that the casualty numbers are actually reversed, or in other words that the Ukrainians are reporting their own casualties as Russians.
“For the most part” doing lots of heavy lifting here. Motorcycle units / DRGs are just more evidence that we are in a new phase of the war. The Ukrainian lines are so porous that these tactics have proven effective in weakening the Ukrainian rear (logistics, fpv nests etc)
The Russian objective is the strategic defeat of the Ukrainian military. The primary measure is attrition. If the Ukrainians stopped defending encircled cities, then the encirclement of major cities would have less of a bearing on attrition, but that’s not the world we live in.
Literally in every way? The economic and industrial war has had a laughably lopsided result. Ukraine’s manpower shortage keeps getting worse and worse. They have committed their “last stand” Azov reserves to the Pokrovsk breakout and barely made a dent. Lyman, Pokrovsk, Konstantinivka, and even Kramatorsk are being slowly surrounded and choked off.
Surely you have seen how desperate the West is to freeze the conflict and how calmly determined the Russians are by comparison?
Nothing shows russkies’ military might as well as cripples taking front line on donkeys
If that’s true, what does that say about the Ukrainian unit strength?
Why does that qualify as winning? Taking some land is not winning, just look at WW2. Also, nothing points at “Russia can keep this going while Ukraine can not”. Russia is running out of tanks etc. Personnel are old man they recruit is some shit hole, the jails are already empty. Economy is massively suffering and now they keep losing more and more of their refineries, which is their main source of income.
The industrial war is lopsided? So… why are they using e-scooters now at the front? After beach buggies after cars after trucks after IFVs? They loose everything without Ukraines allies switching to a war time economy.
At the rate they advance they have Ukraine in 1000 years, so even if we disregard our knowledge that taking land is not the same as winning a war, how are these tiny gains relevant?
Where is the West desperate? How? Do you mean Trump? I hope not. That would be like saying Russia attacks because they want to denazify Ukraine, so I hope that is not the case.
The most insane part of their comment: “The West is losing”, when only one party of “The West” is actually fighting.
Ukraine is fighting with the support of others. It’s not all of them fighting the war.
If you go there, Russia has been attacking The West for many years, through hybrid warfare. Yet, The West remains collected and relatively stable, without resorting to aggression. Their countermeasures are defensive by nature, yet cause disruption deep into Russia anyway.
The disparity is baffling.
Coming back to the original claim of the commenter, the most influence is on other nations like China, the USA, and EU. They indirectly dictate how the war will develop. When looking at prognosis, any look into the current state and development is arbitrary when a single external factor would change everything.
The azov intervention near Pokrovsk was to stop a push, which was stopped. Russia just yesterday (attempted to) launched an attack to reach the soldiers who were cut off, losing over 100 more soldiers and a ton of armored vehicles, which they’ve hardly been using recently because they’re running out. Yeah, I think they did fine. Who cares about the dirt. It’s about the resources to keep fighting. Do note, Ukraine hasn’t lowered the age of conscription yet, which they can still do if it were actually required.
Slowly is the key here. So slow it might as well not be happening. It’s been what, an entire year where Pokrovsk has been “surrounded” and Russia still can’t make any more progress?
The purpose of the Azov intervention was to completely close the breakout and thus restore the last line of defense in Donetsk. This has absolutely not happened. Also, do you understand how desperate you have to be to fully commit the “imperial guard”? With their best reserve units committed, Ukrainians have no strategic flexibility.
Where in the front did this happen? I’m not saying it didn’t, but it doesn’t line up with anything I have heard for a long time.
Every one of those cities is being encircled by 20-50 additional km^2 every week. The Ukrainians are powerless to push back the pincers. Once again, the Russian goal is attrition not territory. Territory is a side effect but also a multiplier. Ukrainian logistic losses will be proportional to the number of supported troops and the length of vulnerable roadway.