The General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine recorded thousands of cases of use of chemical substances by the Russian army
Russian troops systematically use special ammunition with irritating chemical substances on the battlefield, which is directly prohibited by international law. This was stated by the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
According to available data, almost 12 thousand cases of the use of dangerous chemical substances have been documented during the entire period of Russia’s full-scale war against Ukraine. In 2025 alone, 6,540 such incidents were recorded.
The General Staff notes that the Russian army regularly uses special ammunition with CS and CN substances, in particular, gas grenades of the K-51 and RG-VO types. These compounds are riot control agents, but their use in wartime is illegal.
Cases are recorded by the radiation, chemical and biological protection units of the Armed Forces Support Forces. The selected samples are transferred for forensic studies to document violations of international humanitarian law.
The General Staff emphasized that, according to the Chemical Weapons Convention, the use of such substances as a means of warfare is illegal. Despite the fact that in some countries CS and CN can be used by law enforcement officers in peacetime, in combat conditions they pose a serious threat to the life and health of military personnel.
These chemical compounds cause severe irritation of the eyes and respiratory tract, tearing, coughing, suffocation, disorientation, and temporary loss of combat capability.
The largest number of cases of the use of dangerous substances in 2025 was recorded in April – 894. In March, CBRN defense units documented 767 such attacks. There are also reports of an increase in incidents on the front line, particularly in the Zaporizhia region near the settlement of Shcherbaki.
