Thursday 24 November 2022 11:47 AM Putin could use Novichok in mass casualty chemical weapons attacks, US ... trends now

Vladimir Putin could resort to using Novichok in mass chemical weapon attacks in Ukraine if his troops continue to lose ground, US officials fear.

As the progress of the war has gone increasingly in Kyiv's favour, fears that the Russian despot could take extreme measures to force Ukraine to surrender - such as launching a nuclear strike or a dirty bomb attack - have been rising.

But according to six people with knowledge of the matter, Putin is prepared to use chemical weapons in a mass-casualty event before resorting to a nuclear confrontation with NATO.

According to the sources, cited by Politico, President Joe Biden's administration is working to ensure its western allies are prepared for such an attack.

The White House is also working to mobilise resources and manufacture detection systems to be deployed if chemical weapons are used by Moscow, Politico reported.

The sources said that Washington predicts Russia will use chemical weapons in the event of further losses on the battlefield, or a total collapse of Putin's army.

Top US officials strategising for such an attack believe Moscow could deploy chemical weapons Russia has been known to use in the past - including those used in the poisoning of opposition leader Alexei Navalny (on a flight to Moscow) and former Russian military intelligence officer Sergei Skripal (in Salisbury, Britain).

Both were poisoned with a Novichok nerve agent and were hospitalised in a critical condition. Against the odds, they both survived the attack.

While in the past, the nerve agent has been used by Russia to target individuals, US officials have said it can also be used to carry out a mass-casualty event.

Some chemicals can be turned into an aerosol or delivered using munitions to inflict devastating damage on a large area, and a large group of people.

One of the six officials told Politico that such an attack could involve pharmaceutical-based agents (known colloquially PBAs) that are easy to conceal, and thus more difficult for the West to prove Russia's involvement.

Previously, Russia has made unfounded claims that the US operates secret bioweapons labs in Ukraine, which at the time raised fears that Russia could launch a chemical weapons attack and blame it on Ukraine in a false-flag event.

Last month, Russia claimed Ukraine was in the 'final stage' of creating a 'dirty bomb', further raising fears that Moscow will carry out a false flag attack.

After carrying out inspections in Ukraine earlier this month, the International Atomic Energy Agency - the UN's nuclear watchdog - said that it had found no evidence Ukraine was developing such a weapon.

The United States has known for a long time that Russia is working to increase its chemical weapons capacity. Earlier this year, US Senators were briefed on the threat this programme posed to Ukraine, one aide told Politico.

US officials are increasingly fearful that Putin will resort to using unconventional weapons as his forces continue to face embarrassing defeats.

Novichok, which means newcomer in Russian, was developed by the Soviet Union in the 1970s as a new kind of chemical weapon that would be harder to detect, more potent than existing nerve agents and exempt from the Chemical Weapons Treaty.

Nerve agents, including Novichok, can be inhaled as a fine powder, absorbed through the skin or ingested. Symptoms can start within seconds or minutes of being exposed and include convulsions, paralysis, respiratory failure and death.

Fears that Russia could unleash chemical weapons in Ukraine came as ground battles continued to rage in the east, where Russia is pressing an offensive along a stretch of front line west of the city of Donetsk, which has been held by Moscow's proxies since 2014.

Ukraine's general staff said Russian forces tried again to advance on their main targets in Donetsk region - Bakhmut and Avdiivka. 

Russian forces shelled both areas and used incendiary devices to set Ukrainian positions ablaze with only limited success, the general staff said.

Among those fighting the Russians in Bakhmut are a unit of Chechen fighters, who hope a Ukrainian victory could spark political crisis in Russia and bring down the powerful pro-Moscow leader of Chechnya.

'We're not fighting just for the sake of fighting. We want to achieve freedom and independence for our nation,' said a fighter using the nom-de-guerre Maga.

Further south, Russian forces were digging in on the eastern bank of the Dnipro River, the general staff said, shelling areas on the west bank including the town of Kherson, which was recently reclaimed by Ukrainian forces.

Reuters could not immediately verify the battlefield accounts.

Moscow says it is carrying out a 'special military operation' to protect Russian speakers in what Putin calls an artificial state carved from Russia. Ukraine and the West call the invasion an unprovoked land grab.

Western responses have included billions of dollars worth of financial aid and state-of-the-art military hardware for Kyiv and waves of punitive sanctions on Russia.