British Foreign Secretary Liz Tras this morning (Tuesday) referred to Russian allegations of a Russian chemical weapons attack in the Nazareth city of Mariupol in eastern Ukraine and said London was working to investigate the case.
"We are working urgently to review the reports. Any approval for such a report would be a significant and irresponsible escalation in the fighting," Trass said.
The British Armed Forces' minister, James Hippie, also commented on the incident, saying: "We do not yet have any confirmation that the incident did take place but Britain and its allies will respond to any use of chemical weapons by Russia. All options are on the table for the type of response chosen."
Ukrainian President Vladimir Zalansky was careful in addressing the incident during a statement issued last night saying Russia could use banned chemical weapons.
"We take this possibility very seriously," Zlansky said.
"I would like to remind the world that Russia's possible use of chemical weapons has been discussed before and even then we said that Russian aggression should be responded to with greater determination and speed," Zlansky said in an implicit critique of Western countries' Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Russia is stepping up shelling
The Russian army has this morning stepped up the rate of shelling of settlements in eastern Ukraine, apparently in preparation for a major ground offensive in the Donbas region.
The cities of Svorodonsk, Lisichansk were heavily shelled in the Luhansk region and also the city of Kharkiv, the second largest city in Ukraine was shelled this morning.
In addition, the Russian military claims to have destroyed a Ukrainian military ammunition depot in a missile attack.
The attack took place near the town of Khmilantsky.
According to the Russian Ministry of Defense, the site attacked is at the Strokostianib military airport in the west of the country.
Ukrainian gunners in the eastern Luhansk region, Photo: Reuters
The report comes after the Ukrainian military announced the destruction of a Russian military logistics terminal in the Luhansk region.
Photos released by the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense allowed foreign media to locate the location of the attack and locate its occurrence.
Published photos show discarded shells and scorched vehicles.
Meanwhile, sources in Germany announced today that Berlin may hand over to the Ukrainian army 50 tanks of the "Fred 1" model, an old-fashioned battle tank that was taken out of use by the German army in the early 2000s.
The sources told the media in Dina that the transfer could take place within six weeks.
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