is working with Ukraine “to try and determine what exactly has transpired here.” British foreign minister Liz Truss added on Twitter that, “Any use of such weapons would be a callous escalation in this conflict and we will hold Putin and his regime to account.” Ned Price, the State Department spokesperson, told CNN hours later that the U.S. To that point, during his Monday address Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy did not confirm chemical weapons had been deployed, but did say he took the recent threat of their use in Mariupol by Russian-backed separatists “as seriously as possible.” But Anton Gerashchenko, an adviser to the minister of Internal Affairs in Ukraine, hours beforehand tweeted that “ Chemical weapons are used” in Mariupol. They also noted that Ukrainian officials, who have been quick to accuse Russia of atrocities, have not definitively declared that illicit weapons were used. officials raised questions about the credibility of the Azov regiment, noting that the far-right group might be eager to provoke a larger confrontation. “These are difficult things to prove even when you are more proximate, and we are not.”Īdditionally, U.S. There are a “host of difficulties” in verifying the claims, a senior U.S. “There’s no independent verification in that area, so it’s likely to be a long time,” a European official told POLITICO. It may take some time to assess if chemical weapons were used, just as it did during the conflict in Syria back in 2013. Officials cautioned Tuesday that such a determination may not be imminent. Ukraine could also invite the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, a global watchdog headquartered in the Netherlands, to send a rapid-response team to the site for investigation. or Western officials on the ground collect samples for more conclusive verification. Experts say a preliminary assessment could be made using photos or videos, if they exist, while U.S. and European officials have yet to substantiate the accusation.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |