WHO making preparations for chemical assaults in Ukraine

The World Health Organization (WHO) had said they preparing for possible "chemical assaults" in Ukraine as the Russians prepare a renewed assault in the east.

The head of the WHO in Europe, Hans Kluge, said: "Due to the current situation, there are no assurances that the war will not get worse."

Speaking from Lviv in west Ukraine, Kluge said: "WHO is considering all scenarios and making contingencies for different situations that could afflict the people of Ukraine, from the continued treatment of mass casualties to chemical assaults."

Western officials have repeatedly voiced fears that Russia may use chemical and biological weapons in Ukraine, with risks of spillover effects beyond the country.

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Russia's defence ministry has accused Kyiv, without providing evidence, of planning a chemical attack against its own people in order to accuse Moscow of using chemical weapons in the invasion of Ukraine.

In the same briefing, which was delayed due to an air raid siren in Lviv, Kluge said the WHO was co-ordinating with the European Union to triage patients arriving from Ukraine and arranging for them to be sent on for treatment within Europe.

Chemical and biological weapons are banned under international law, but Western intelligence believes Russia could have a large stockpile.

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Their uncontrollability and brutal effects on human beings have led them to be harshly criticised by the global community every time they're used in a conflict.

The spectre of chemical weapons being used comes as Russia is preparing a renewed offensive in the east.

The conflict in Ukraine has quietened recently after Russia pulled out of the north near Kyiv, although several residential areas continue to be shelled.

It is believed Russia is now reorganising and rearming its troops as well as bringing in some veteran mercenaries to try and fully conquer the eastern Donbas region, which contains a large number of ethnic Russians.

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As Ukraine retook areas formerly occupied by Russia, evidence of atrocities committed by soldiers against civilians has been uncovered.

Ukrainian authorities are working to identify hundreds of bodies found in Kyiv’s northern outskirts.

The bodies of at least 410 civilians were found in Bucha and other towns around Kyiv, victims of what Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy has portrayed as a Russian campaign of murder, rape, dismemberment and torture.

In Brussels, Ukrainian foreign minister Dmytro Kuleba urged Nato to provide more weapons.

“My agenda is very simple. ... it’s weapons, weapons and weapons,” Kuleba said as he arrived at NATO headquarters for talks with the military organisation’s foreign ministers.

“The more weapons we get and the sooner they arrive in Ukraine, the more human lives will be saved,” he said.

While Nato is striving to avoid actions that might draw any of its 30 members into a war with Russia, its secretary-general Jens Stoltenberg urged nations that belong to the Western alliance to send Ukraine more weapons, and not just defensive arms.

Western countries have provided Ukraine with portable anti-tank and anti-aircraft weapons, but they have been reluctant to supply aircraft, tanks or any equipment that Ukrainian troops would have to be trained to use.