War

767 chemical attacks in March: Russians continue to ignore the Chemical Weapons Convention

Despite statements about the complete destruction of chemical weapons, the aggressor country retains industrial capacities for their restoration and production.

The data was released on April 23 by the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine, "Komersant Ukrainian" reports.

Colonel Valeriy Weber, Deputy Head of the Main Directorate of Mine Action, Civil Protection and Environmental Safety, drew attention to the use of chemical weapons by the Russians during panel discussions at a seminar on the criminalization of chemical, bacteriological, radiation and nuclear crimes held in Chisinau (Moldova).

The representative of the Ministry of Defense also reminded the meeting participants that, according to the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, in March 2025 alone, the CBRN intelligence units of the Support Forces recorded 767 cases of the aggressor’s use of munitions containing hazardous compounds.

“Since February 2023, the use of hazardous chemicals by the Russians has become systematic, ignoring the norms and obligations under the Convention on the Prohibition of the Development, Production, Stockpiling and Use of Chemical Weapons and on their Destruction. A total of 7,730 such crimes have been recorded since then,” emphasized Valeriy Weber.

The participants of the seminar focused on the norms of international and national legislation in the field of liability for CBRN-related offenses.

At the seminar, the Ukrainian delegation reported that the investigation and punishment of Russian war criminals is a priority for the judiciary and law enforcement system of Ukraine.

The event, funded by the European Commission’s Foreign Policy Instruments Service (FPI), was also attended by representatives of the Prosecutor General’s Office, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the State Environmental Inspectorate, the State Border Guard Service, the State Emergency Service, the National Police, the National Guard, the State Nuclear Regulatory Inspectorate of Ukraine and other central executive authorities and institutions of Ukraine.

The training was conducted by experts from the United Nations Interregional Crime and Justice Research Institute (UNICRI), the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), the Biological Weapons Convention Implementation Support Group (BWC), the International Association of Prosecutors, and the independent research organization VERTIC.