Russia accused of dropping white phosphorus bombs on Bakhmut
The besieged city of Bakhmut was set ablaze by white phosphorus bombs dropped by Russian forces, the Ukraine Defense Ministry claimed.
The Ukrainian military released drone footage that showed what appears to be buildings burning while white phosphorus raining down on the city Friday.
The chemical weapon is not banned, but its use in civilian areas is considered a war crime, according to the Geneva Convention.
“Not enough shells, but more than enough phosphorus,” the Ukrainian defense agency wrote alongside the video posted to Twitter. “Ruscists are shelling unoccupied areas of Bakhmut with incendiary ammunition. They will burn in Hell.”
Ruscism, a combination of Russia and fascism, is a word coined by Ukraine early on in the war.
The defense agency did not say when the alleged phosphorus attacks occurred although other videos posted to social media Friday that claim to capture the attack from the ground also show buildings burning while an incendiary substance rains down.
Russia has previously been accused of using phosphorus in Ukraine, including during the siege of Mariupol, although Moscow has never publicly admitted to using the substance.
White phosphorus reportedly burned trees outside of the village of Chasiv Yar near Bakhmut. AFP via Getty Images
Last year, Kremlin Press Secretary Dmitry Peskov claimed “Russia has never violated international conventions” after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Russia used the chemical — which ignites on contact with oxygen and burns at nearly 1,500 degrees Fahrenheit.
Phosphorus, which is a sticky waxlike substance, is also reportedly difficult to remove and is “notorious for the severity of the injuries it cases,” according to warnings from Human Rights Watch.
The Soviet Union signed the Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons in 1981, which bans the use of incendiary weapons in civilian areas, but white phosphorus is not covered by the treaty because it’s primary use is to “create a smokescreen to hide military operations,” according to the humanitarian group.
Human Rights Watch said white phosphorus is not covered by the weapons treaty because its primary use is as a smokescreen. AFP via Getty Images
The Russian Federation, formed in 1991 following the collapse of the USSR, is considered the Soviet Union’s successor state in diplomatic matters and is bound by the signature.
The alleged attack on Bakhmut came as Russia reportedly cracked down on occupied areas of Ukraine ahead of an expected counteroffensive.
The Kremlin claimed Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia, Kherson, Donetsk, and Luhansk regions are now part of Russia during a widely criticized referendum last fall, and last week Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree that allows his forces to deport people in those regions without Russian passports.
Ukrainian soldiers fire a cannon near Bakhmut on May 3, 2023. AP Photo/Libkos, file
Military medics evacuating an injured Ukrainian soldier near Bakhmut on May 5, 2023. Photo by DIMITAR DILKOFF/AFP via Getty Images
Police in the Russian-occupied city of Melitopol have also been denying people without Russian passports care at hospitals, The Wall Street Journal reported.
Deputy Mayor of Melitopol’s Ukrainian Administration, Mykhailo Semikin, said forcing Ukrainians to get Russian passports is just another way Moscow is trying to control the population.
“They want to make everyone an accomplice,” Semikin said, adding that people who take Russian passports “won’t want Ukraine to come back, because they’re already part of the Russian system.”
Source: New York Post
