Ukraine accused the Russian Army of using white phosphorus bombs in Zaporiyia

Ukrainian authorities accused the Russian Army on Wednesday of dropping white phosphorus bombs in a town called Novodanilivka, in the Zaporiyia region.

The spokesman for the regional military administration, Ivan Arefiev, said on the social network Facebook that the attack had set fire to the roof of a residential building, but that no one was injured. Emergency services have already extinguished the fire.

In addition, he warned that there is a “great threat” because of the possibility that Russian troops will use missiles against military and civilian structures throughout the Zaporiyia region, in attacks that could be intensified with the aim of advancing towards the city of the same name.

White phosphorus bombs are not chemical weapons, the use of which is prohibited by the Chemical Weapons Convention, which entered into force in 1997.

Instead, they are considered incendiary weapons, whose use is codified in Protocol III of the 1980 Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons and which entered into force since 1983. “It is prohibited in all circumstances to attack civilians as such, civilians or civilian objects with incendiary weapons”, reads the protocol.

In addition, these weapons are prohibited against military objectives when they are close to civilian populations. This protocol does not affect white phosphorus used as a sparkler. Both Russia and Ukraine have been signatories of this Protocol III since 1982, at the time of the then Soviet Union.

Phosphorus can be used as a smokescreen to hide troop movements, to illuminate the battlefield or to burn infrastructure.

But it can “cause absolutely horrible damage, very serious burns” to civilians, said Olivier Lepick, of the French Foundation for Strategic Research (Fondation pour la Recherche Stratégique), on the LCI network

This is not the first time that the Ukrainian authorities have accused Russia of using prohibited weapons in the framework of the invasion. The most recent has been the use of “a poisonous substance of unknown origin” against military and civilians in Mariupol. Moscow denies it.

In this regard, the United Kingdom indicated that it was attempting to verify the use of chemical weapons and issued a strong warning. “If they have been used, (Russian President Vladimir) Putin should know that all possible options will be on the table in terms of how the West might respond,” Secretary of State for the Armed Forces James Heappey told private channel Sky News. “There are things that exceed all limits and the use of chemical weapons will have an answer,” he added.

For its part, the United States on Tuesday mentioned “credible information” about the possibility that Russia is using “chemical agents” in its offensive to control the city of Mariupol, a strategic port town besieged by Moscow troops for more than a month.

Meanwhile, the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) expressed concern on Tuesday about allegations of the use of chemical weapons. “These reports follow those published by the press in recent weeks about bombings of chemical factories in Ukraine, and accusations between the two sides about the possible abuse of toxic chemicals,” the text added. The OPCW recalled that its 193 members, including Russia and Ukraine, “are parties to the Chemical Weapons Convention, an international treaty of great importance in the field of disarmament, which has been in force since 1997.”

(With information from Europa Press and AFP)

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