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May 2, 2024, 9:04am EDT
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US says Russia used chemical weapons in Ukraine war

Insights from New Scientist, the BBC, and The New York Times

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Ukrainian servicemen of the 25th Separate Airborne Brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, stand on a Marder infantry fighting vehicle near a front line, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Donetsk region, Ukraine April 29, 2024. REUTERS/Oleksandr Ratushniak
Oleksandr Ratushniak/Reuters
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The News

The US State Department accused Russia of using chemical weapons in Ukraine in violation of an international ban.

“The use of such chemicals is not an isolated incident and is probably driven by Russian forces’ desire to dislodge Ukrainian forces from fortified positions and achieve tactical gains on the battlefield,” the department said.

Russia is accused of using chloropicrin, a choking agent that is banned by the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons.

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SIGNALS

Semafor Signals: Global insights on today's biggest stories.

Russia has previously claimed it destroyed weapons

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Sources:  
BBC, The New York Times

The Kremlin has denied it has used chemical weapons in Ukraine, and claimed in 2017 that it had destroyed the remainder of its Cold War-era weapons stockpile, the BBC reported. But Moscow has previously been accused of making incomplete claims about its stockpiles. According to Britain, it has used chemical weapons at least twice since 2017 — once to poison political dissident Alexei Navalny in 2020, and in the 2018 nerve agent poisoning of Sergei Skripal in Salisbury, England. Lt. Col. Artem Vlasiuk told The New York Times that there were an estimated 250 incidents where chemical weapons were used in Ukraine in February, five times higher than March 2023.

Moscow may be directing GPS jamming

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Source:  
New Scientist

A Finnish airline has paused flights to Estonia following a GPS jamming attack in the Baltics, New Scientist reported. Those attacks, which can make planes veer off course, are believed to be directed by Moscow and have targeted Estonia. GPS jamming incidents have increased since the beginning of this year, one analyst told New Scientist, and officials receive reports of as many as 30 incidents per day. “It’s really never been a question of whether or not this is Russia – who else could it be?” Dana Goward, of the Resilient Navigation and Timing Foundation, told the outlet. “It’s incumbent upon folks to resolve this before it devolves into an aircraft or ship accident, or people shooting each other.”

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