"We'll ask Putin to bear responsibility if it is confirmed to be true"

"We'll ask Putin to bear responsibility if it is confirmed to be true"

Great Britain is trying to verify information on whether Russian forces used chemical weapons in Mariupol, a city under siege for more than a month, British Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced last night.

"Information indicates that Russian forces may have used chemical agents in an attack on the population of Mariupol. We are working urgently with our partners to verify this information," British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss said on Twitter.

Any use of this type of weapon would represent a "brutal escalation of the conflict, and we will ask Putin and his regime to settle accounts," she added.

Ukrainian MP Ivana Klympush said that Russia used an "unknown substance" in Mariupol, where more people suffer from shortness of breath, stating that "it is very likely that these are chemical weapons".

Earlier, the Ukrainian regiment Azov, which is in Mariupol, claimed in a message published yesterday on the Telegram that the Russian drone released a "toxic substance" on soldiers and civilians in Mariupol, stating that several people have respiratory or neurological problems.

The founder of the Azov battalion, Andriy Biletsky, said in a message on the Telegram that three people were poisoned with an unknown toxic substance, that they had clear signs of poisoning with war chemical products, but that they had no catastrophic consequences.

Agency France-Presse stated that for now, it cannot verify those claims from independent sources. Adviser to the mayor of Mariupol, Petro Andryushchenko, said through the Telegram that the information about the chemical attack has not been confirmed yet, and that details and clarifications will be given later, since official information from the army is awaited.

Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said last night that Washington has information about the chemical attack on that strategic city, but that he cannot confirm that.