Vladimir Putin has been warned that the West “will not stand by” if he uses chemical weapons in Ukraine.
The UK government is urgently investigating unconfirmed reports that chemical agents may have been used in the besieged city of Mariupol, where 10,000 people are said to have died during Russia’s relentless six-week assault.
Last night foreign secretary Liz Truss tweeted that any use of such weapons would be a “callous escalation in this conflict”, adding: “We will hold Putin and his regime to account”.
Armed forces minister James Heappey echoed Truss’s words on Tuesday morning but stressed the UK had not yet been able to verify the reports.
“These are appalling weapons to even think about using and the fact that they are part of the discussion is deeply sobering,” he told Sky News.
“It’s not just the president of the United States, the president of France and our own prime minister have also been clear that there are weapons that simply should not be used and if they are used people will be held to account.
“There are some things that are beyond the pale, and the use of chemical weapons will get a response and all options are on the table of what that response could be.”
He later told BBC Breakfast: “President Putin should be clear that the use of chemical weapons is simply not acceptable and he shouldn’t expect the West to stand by if they were used.”
Mariupol has been relentlessly bombarded by Russian forces since Moscow first launched its invasion of Ukraine six weeks ago.
There are fears the city could struggle to repel further Russian aggression as ammunition runs low.
The port city is a strategic target for Moscow because it would help create a corridor in the south of Ukraine that would link it to Donetsk and Luhansk in the Donbas region of eastern Ukraine, where Russia is said to be renewing its assault.
The city’s Azov regiment reported that soldiers had been left dizzy and unable to breathe after a “poisonous substance of unknown origin” was dropped on them from a Russian drone.
Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky said he believed “tens of thousands” of people had been killed in Mariupol so far.
Britain is increasingly concerned that Russia could use white phosphorus munitions in Mariupol. The agent was reportedly used during the civil war in Syria that causes severe burns.
Western officials suspect Russia is looking for Mariupol to fall so it can free up troops for a renewed effort in the Donbas.
Heappey said Putin was gearing up to try and take the Donbas ahead of the May 9 victory parade, when Russia traditionally marks the Soviet Union’s Second World War victory against Nazi Germany.