iPhone | iPad
Android
Huawei
More vertiports will be set up in strategic locations across Abu Dhabi, including major business hubs and tourism destinations
KT APPDOWNLOAD
US cannot confirm use of chemical weapons in Ukraine, Blinken says
Defence official says the US had no information to support the movement of chemical agents by Russia in or near Ukraine
Antony Blinken. — AP file
The United States is not in position to confirm reports of the use of chemical weapons in Ukraine but was working to determine what actually happened, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Tuesday.
Ukraine said earlier it was checking unverified information that Russia may have used chemical weapons while besieging the city of Mariupol.
“We’re in direct conversation with partners to try to determine what actually has happened,” Blinken told reporters, adding that it had been a focus of concern even before Russia moved its troops into Ukraine.
A senior US defence official on Tuesday said much the same thing about Mariupol, adding that the United States had no information to support the movement of chemical agents by Russia in or near Ukraine.
ALSO READ:
US President Joe Biden last month said Russia’s unsubstantiated accusations that Kyiv had biological and chemical weapons suggested Russian President Vladimir Putin may be laying the groundwork to use them.
Chemical weapons production, use and stockpiling is banned under the 1997 Chemical Weapons Convention. Although condemned by human rights groups, white phosphorous is not banned under the convention.
Russia’s defence ministry did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment. Russian-backed separatist forces in the east denied using chemical weapons in Mariupol, the Interfax news agency reported.
“There is a theory that these could be phosphorous munitions,” Ukraine’s Deputy Defence Minister Hanna Malyar said on Tuesday.
Russia’s war in Ukraine has killed thousands and displaced millions.
Moscow calls its actions a “special operation” to destroy Ukraine’s military capabilities and capture what it views as dangerous nationalists, but Ukraine and the West say Russia launched an unprovoked war of aggression.
More news from
Kerala will decide the fate of 194 candidates as polling on all 20 parliamentary constituencies will be held in the second phase
Pecker is a key witness in the case against the former US president, who is accused of falsifying business records to cover up hush-money payment
The oil and gas conglomerate and Fifa, the world governing body, sign major sponsorship agreement
Toomaj Salehi risks being hanged after the conviction on the Shariah charge of "corruption on Earth" by a Revolutionary Court
Aid groups warn any invasion would add to already-catastrophic conditions for Gaza's 2.4 million people
The American they will face Australia and Serbia on July 15 and July 17 as part of their preparation for the Paris Olympic Games
The leaders emphasise that the deal to release the hostages would bring an immediate and prolonged ceasefire in Gaza
