U.S. 'Monitors' Reports of Russian Chemical Weapons in Ukraine

The Pentagon on Monday said that it is "closely monitoring" social media reports claiming Russian forces deployed chemical weapons in Mariupol, TURAN's Washington correspondent reports.

"We are aware of social media reports which claim Russian forces deployed a potential chemical munition in Mariupol, Ukraine," Defense Department Press Secretary John Kirby told reporters. "We cannot confirm at this time and will continue to monitor the situation closely."

Moscow has a long history of using chemical weapons, and the White House has warned that Russian forces may be preparing to "use chemical or biological weapons in Ukraine."

Early in the day, a senior Defense Department official told reporters that the Russians were concentrating their combat activity, resupply and reinforcement mostly in the Donbas area" of eastern Ukraine. That's a change from the first part of their invasion, when Russian forces were trying to advance on Kyiv.

Lines of Russian vehicles are now headed toward Izyum, but they're still north of that city, according to the Pentagon.

This convoy is believed to include command and control elements, a support battalion, perhaps rotary wing aviation support, and other infantry support, the official said. "It's clear evidence of what we've been saying for a while now that the Russians are going to want to pour more of their assets into the Donbas," the official said.

There's some evidence that the Russians are beginning to reinforce some of their positions southwest of Donetsk. They're doing that largely with artillery units, the official said.

The DOD does not yet assess this as the beginning of a new offensive, as fighting in the Donbas region has been going on now for eight years, the official said.

While Moscow targets Donbas region for continued aggression and Ukrainians shift their efforts to confront that aggression, the U.S., allies and partners continue their efforts to get security assistance to the Ukrainian military, per Pentagon's John Kirby.

"Regardless of the Russian refocus on the Donbas, we're not slowing down," he said during a briefing. That stuff continues to move, it's going to continue to move. We said as much as we can, as fast as we can — and we mean it."

Despite Russia's efforts to refocus their fight on the eastern part of Ukraine, in the area called the Donbas, nothing has changed about how the U.S. is getting much-needed supplies to the Ukrainians, per Kirby.

"The reprioritization of the Russians on the east hasn't had an effect on our ability to help coordinate the delivery of massive amounts of security assistance from the United States and other nations,” he said. "That flow still continues."

Alex Raufoglu

Washington D.C.