Ukraine accused by Russia of poisoning soldiers in Zaporizhzhia region

Russia’s defence ministry accused Ukraine on Saturday of poisoning some of its servicemen in the Russian-controlled part of Ukraine’s southeastern region of Zaporizhzhia in late July.

An adviser to Ukraine’s interior ministry said in response that the alleged poisoning could have been caused by Russian forces eating expired canned meat.

The Russian defence ministry said a number of Russian servicemen had been taken to a military hospital with signs of serious poisoning on July 31st. Tests showed a toxic substance, botulinum toxin type B, in their bodies, it said.

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“On the fact of chemical terrorism sanctioned by the (Ukrainian President Volodymyr) Zelenskiy regime, Russia is preparing supporting evidence with the results of all the analyses,” the ministry said in a statement.

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It did not say how many servicemen had suffered or what their condition was now. It did not say what the “supporting evidence” was.

Botulinum toxin type B is a neurotoxin that can cause botulism when ingested in previously contaminated food products, but it can also have medical uses.

Ukraine’s defence ministry did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment, but interior ministry adviser Anton Gerashchenko commented on the Russian allegation on the Telegram messaging app.

“The [Russian defence ministry] does not clarify whether the poisoning could have been caused by expired canned meat, in which botulinum toxin is often found. Overdue rations have been massively complained about by the occupying forces since the first days of the invasion of Ukraine,” he said.

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The Russian defence ministry said it was conducting an additional investigation into an incident in which Volodymyr Saldo, the Russian-installed administration in Ukraine’s occupied Kherson region, was taken ill.

Mr Saldo, a former mayor of the city of Kherson who was appointed to head the region of the same name when Russian troops overran it in early March, fell ill in early August.

Russia says its “special military operation” launched on February 24th is aimed at demilitarising Ukraine and protecting Russian speakers on what President Vladimir Putin called historical Russian land.

Ukraine and western countries view it as an unprovoked war of conquest aimed at wiping out Ukraine’s national identity.

Black Sea strikes

Meanwhile, Ukraine has launched a fresh strike on Russia’s Black Sea fleet headquarters at Sevastopol, where officials in the annexed Crimean peninsula said that at least one drone had been shot down by air defences.

The reported attack on Saturday morning — a day after explosions erupted near military bases in Russian-held areas of Ukraine and Russia itself — came on the same day that 12 civilians were reportedly wounded when a Russian missile hit a residential area of a Ukrainian town.

Vitaliy Kim, the governor of Mykolaiv, said that four children were among those wounded in an attack that damaged several private houses and a five-storey residential building in Voznesensk, about 30km from the Pivdennoukrainsk nuclear power plant.

He added that a young girl had lost an eye as a result of the attack on Saturday.

While there was no apparent major damage after the reported unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) attack on Sevastopol, which has not been independently verified by the Guardian, observers said it demonstrated Ukraine’s ability to strike deep behind Russian lines at prestige targets.

Video shared on Twitter appeared to show Russian air defences attempting to destroy the UAV and dark plumes of smoke rising from the city.

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Mikhail Razvozhayev, Sevastopol’s governor, wrote on Telegram that a drone had hit the roof of the headquarters on Saturday and said there were no casualties, reports the Russian news agency Tass.

“I am at the [Black Sea] fleet’s headquarters now. A drone hit the roof here 25 minutes ago. Unfortunately, it was not downed ... There are no casualties,” he wrote.

Meanwhile, Ukraine’s defence ministry on Saturday said its forces had killed a total of 44,900 Russian personnel — a rise of 200 on the day before.

On Friday, the US said for the first time that it would provide Ukraine with ScanEagle surveillance drones, mine-resistant vehicles, anti-armour rounds and howitzer weapons in a new £655 million aid package to help its efforts to take back Ukrainian territory.

“These capabilities are carefully calibrated to make the most difference on the battlefield and strengthen Ukraine’s position at the negotiating table,” Antony Blinken, the US secretary of state, said.

There was cautious optimism on Saturday as two more grain ships left the Ukrainian port of Chornomorsk, bringing the total number to leave Ukraine’s Black Sea under a UN-brokered deal to 27.

Welcoming the sailings, the UN secretary general, António Guterres, said on Saturday that governments and the private sector should co-operate to bring Russian food and fertilisers as well as Ukrainian grain to world markets under the deal agreed last month.

“The other part of this package deal is the unimpeded access to the global markets of Russian food and fertiliser, which are not subject to sanctions,” Guterres told a news conference in Istanbul. “It is important that all governments and the private sector co-operate to bring them to market.

Wednesday will mark six months of war in the region since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

While Russia has made gains in the east, it has been put on the defensive in other regions as Ukraine scales up its attacks in the Black Sea peninsula of Crimea, which was seized by Russia in 2014.

Last week, a total of nine Russian warplanes were reported destroyed at a Crimean airbase.

Russian leaders have warned that such strikes indicate an escalation in the conflict, powered by the US and Nato allies.

In its latest intelligence update on the conflict, Britain’s ministry of defence said last week that it saw “only minimal changes in territorial control along the frontline”.

In Donbas, it said Russian forces have approached the outskirts of Bakhmut, but have not broken into the city. In the southwest, it reported that neither Ukrainian or Russian forces had made advances on the frontline in occupied Kherson, but added: “Increasingly frequent explosions behind Russian lines are probably stressing Russian logistics and air basing in the south.” — Reuters/Guardian