Russia says US preparing chemical weapons provocation in Donbas. Washington responds

Ukraine's Foreign Ministry says Russia is preparing an information cover for possible provocations on Ukrainian territory.

Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said that 120 American military mercenaries had brought chemical weapons to eastern Ukraine and were preparing a provocation. 

“Reserves of an unidentified chemical component have been delivered to the cities of Avdeevka and Krasny Liman to carry out a provocation,” the minister said. 

According to him, it has been “reliably established” that more than 120 employees of American private military companies are in Avdeevka and Priazovskoye in the Donetsk region. They are allegedly “equipping firing positions in residential buildings and socially significant facilities, and training Ukrainian forces to carry out special operations and active combat operations.” 

Shoigu said that NATO is moving troops to the “eastern flank,” including from US territory, and is drawing Ukraine, Moldova and Georgia into military activity. 

Sergei Shoigu
Russian Defense Minister

The exercises practice various options for using coalition groupings against Russia and for involving non-bloc states: Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine. The North Atlantic Alliance’s desire to involve Ukraine’s armed forces poses a security threat, especially given Kyiv’s attempts to resolve the Donbas problem by force. 

He said that NATO’s actions amount to “military development of Ukrainian territory,” and that the situation is being aggravated by US supplies of aviation equipment, including strike drones and anti-tank systems. 

Pentagon spokesperson John Kirby called the Russian defense minister’s statements “false”: “These... these statements by Minister Shoigu are absolutely false.” 

US State Department spokesperson Ned Price said that it is not Ukraine or the US but Russia that is responsible for the escalation in Donbas. 

Ned Price
US State Department spokesperson

We call on Russia to stop using false, inflammatory rhetoric and take steps to de-escalate tensions in order to create a positive atmosphere for discussions. Contrary to the statements of the Russian defense minister, Russia and its representatives are responsible for the escalation of tensions, not Ukraine or the United States. 

Ukrainian Foreign Ministry spokesperson, in a comment to UP said that Russia, by claiming alleged American military personnel and chemical weapons in Donbas, is preparing an information cover for possible further provocations on Ukrainian territory. 

Oleg Nikolenko
Ukrainian Foreign Ministry spokesperson

We categorically reject the insinuations against Ukraine made during the meeting of the Russian Defense Ministry’s board. The minister’s claims about alleged chemical substances, instructors from American private military companies, and shelling of residential neighborhoods in Donbas are yet more examples of massive Russian disinformation. Russia continues to create an information cover for further provocations by its troops on Ukrainian territory. 

The ministry called on the Russian leadership to stop hostile rhetoric and the language of ultimatums, and to return to a constructive path and resolve the conflict through political and diplomatic means. 

According to Nikolenko, the first step in this direction should be Moscow’s implementation of the Minsk agreements and the agreements of the leaders of the Normandy Format. 

Russia must also stop its armed aggression against Ukraine and abandon the logic of confrontation. Nikolenko noted that all of this would be the best guarantee of security on the European continent.