The residents of the Mariupol suburbs complained about feeling unwell after the occupiers spread the poisonous substance. In the villages of Talakivka and Sartana, people experienced unusual taste in the mouth and other symptoms of the poisoning by the chemical substance, UNIAN reported citing the Mariupol mayor Vadym Boichenko.
“Indeed, they used some sort of chemical substance, dropping it by drone. Unfortunately, we can not gather samples there and test what it was. The wind spread the substance; its particles reached the city suburbs. There were health complaints in the villages of Sartana and Talakivka. After that people left their homes in these villages and evacuated,” the official said.
On the evening of April 11, the “Azov” regiment, defending Mariupol with the marines, reported that the russian occupiers used poisonous substance of unknown origin against the Ukrainian military and civilians in the city. The occupiers dropped it on the “Azovstal” factory from the drone.
According to the regiment's founder Andriy Biletsky, three fighters were affected, and their condition is satisfactory. Immediately after the attack, they had respiratory failure and vestibular-atactic syndrome.
A few hours before the attack, the representative of the “DPR” terrorists, Eduard Basurin, said that chemical forces would find ways to “smoke out the moles from their holes” when talking about Ukrainian servicemen holding “Azovstal” factory.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy addressed the world leaders due to the chemical attack in Mariupol. He urged the world to respond to Russia’s use of the toxic munition.
The U.S. currently does not confirm the information about the chemical attack. The UK is reviewing the data. The military leadership of Ukraine is also reviewing the information on the usage of chemical weapons in Mariupol. According to the preliminary assumptions, russians could have used the white phosphorus munition.