On Friday, Russia intensified its airstrikes in Ukraine and attempted to restart its failed ground offensive, citing unsubstantiated reports of bioweapons threats in the country.
With the crisis now in its third week, Russian jets attacked Dnipro in central Ukraine on Friday, while rockets hammered Lutsk in western Ukraine, indicating that Vladimir Putin is broadening the scope of an assault that has so far targeted the country’s most populous cities.
A large explosion and blaze were seen in the early morning on the outskirts of Dnipro, according to a video posted on social media. The attacks occurred near a kindergarten and an apartment complex, according to emergency services, and one person died as a result of the attack.
The attack came a day after Russian and Ukrainian foreign ministers met in Turkey to discuss ending the war or perhaps establishing a temporary ceasefire, but no progress was made.
Moscow has proposed that the UN Security Council convene on Friday to consider charges that the US-supported unconventional weapons research in Ukraine, a narrative that has frightened the west. The allegations are “preposterous,” according to the White House, which has warned, along with the UK, that Moscow is fabricating bogus claims to excuse its own use of chemical or biological weapons.
Ukraine, like many other nations, has public health labs working on ways to reduce the threat of severe diseases that harm both animals and humans, such as Covid-19. The U.S., the European Union, and the World Health Organization have all lent their assistance to its laboratories.
The World Health Organization (WHO) has been working with Ukrainian public health laboratories for several years to encourage security standards that help prevent “accidental or deliberate release of pathogens,” according to an e-mail response to questions from Reuters.
The agency said: “As part of this work, WHO has strongly recommended to the Ministry of Health in Ukraine and other responsible bodies to destroy high-threat pathogens to prevent any potential spills.”
The WHO refused to specify when the suggestion was issued, and it also refused to say what viruses or toxins were kept in Ukraine’s laboratory. The agency also declined to comment on whether or not its suggestions were implemented.
Russia has failed to conquer any major city in 16 days and is still far from completing its aim of disarming Ukraine’s military and overthrowing its government.
However, frequent shelling of Ukrainian cities such as Kharkiv and Mariupol has resulted in a massive human toll, forcing over 2 million people to escape the nation in search of safety. The EU vowed on Friday to provide temporary protection to “all war refugees from Ukraine” following a summit of its leaders in Versailles.
Kamala Harris, the US vice president, backed calls for a war crimes probe against Putin’s incursion, noting “atrocities” committed against civilians as a result of indiscriminate bombardment. On a visit to Poland, she remarked, “Absolutely there should be an investigation, and we should all be watching.”
So far, Europe and the U.S. have kept putting more restrictions on Russia’s trade. They’re looking into depriving Russia of “most-favored nation” status at the World Trade Organization, which would make it more difficult for Russia to export.
On Thursday, Putin promised to use “legal solutions” to seize the Russian assets of multinational enterprises that have suspended or shuttered operations in the country, ranging from McDonald’s to Ikea.
Civilians besieged in Mariupol, which has been bombarded mercilessly, are in a particularly bad situation, according to Ukrainian officials.
Residents have been confined to frigid shelters for days, with food and water supplies running out, due to a lack of heat and phone service. The bodies of more than 1,300 individuals have been buried in mass graves, according to deputy prime minister Iryna Vereshchuk, who stated more than 1,300 people had died in the city’s 10-day siege.
In a video speech, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said, “They have a clear order to hold Mariupol hostage, to mock it, to constantly bomb and shell it.” Specifically, he accused the Russians of placing a tank account in an area where a humanitarian route out of Mariupol was supposed to be established.
Ukraine’s military stated in a Friday morning statement that it has been “repelling and holding back” Russian forces from its frontline position, making no significant advances.
Russia’s military was still being hampered by ongoing logistical challenges, according to the British defence ministry, and Moscow was likely to “reset and reposture its forces for renewed offensive activity in coming days.”
Meanwhile, Russia’s defense ministry said that Russian forces had gained control of Volnovakha, a besieged town in Ukraine’s south-east. The ministry also stated that its forces had began rocket strikes on military airfields in western Ukraine, including Lutsk and Ivano-Frankivsk, and were marching on Mariupol.
As Russia’s offensive on Kyiv and Kharkiv, Ukraine’s two largest cities, has stalled, Moscow’s repeated claims that Ukraine possesses chemical and biological weapons programs has fueled Western concerns that Putin may resort to unconventional weapons.
“What else have you prepared for us?” Zelensky asked Putin in his late-night message, describing Moscow’s assertions as a smokescreen to justify the deployment of ever more barbaric weaponry.
“Allegedly, we are preparing a chemical attack,” he stated during his speech. “This makes me really worried, because we’ve been repeatedly convinced: if you want to know Russia’s plans, look at what Russia accuses others of [doing].”
According to a senior US defense official, the US has no biological weapons facilities in Ukraine “or anywhere else in the world,” and that the US spent $200 million in Ukraine to “eliminate the remnants” of an unlawful Soviet-era deadly weapons program.
The US Senate approved a $13.6 billion spending plan on Thursday evening, including $6.5 billion for defense, as the West tightened sanctions against Russia. The bill will now be signed into law by US President Joe Biden.
When adjusted for inflation, the assistance offered by the United States exceeds the historic $400 million package delivered to Greece and Turkey in 1947. The move that signaled the beginning of US cold war policies in Europe and the formation of Nato two years later.
Image Credit: Getty
You were reading: Putin ramps up airstrikes and bioweapon claims as WHO asked Ukraine to “destroy high-threat pathogens”