Claims of Chemical Weapon Use in Ukraine 'Insufficiently Substantiated': Watchdog

The Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons said Tuesday that information it had received on alleged chemical weapons use in Ukraine was "insufficiently substantiated."

The OPCW also said it had not yet received an official request to investigate these claims, after the United States accused Russia of using the toxic agent chloropicrin against Ukrainian troops.

"Both the Russian Federation and Ukraine have accused one another and reported allegations of use of chemical weapons to the Organisation," the OPCW said in a statement.

"The information provided to the Organisation so far by both sides, together with the information available to the Secretariat, is insufficiently substantiated," the group added.

The OPCW nevertheless described the situation as "volatile" and "extremely concerning regarding the possible re-emergence of use of toxic chemicals as weapons."

Last week, the US State Department accused Russia of having used a chemical weapon against Ukrainian forces in violation of the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC).

In addition to the chemical agent chloropicrin, Russia also used "riot control agents (tear gas) as a method of warfare in Ukraine, also in violation of the CWC," the department said in a factsheet.