Ukrainian servicemen use a searchlight as they search for drones in the sky over the city during a Russian drone strike, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Kyiv, Ukraine February 27, 2023. REUTERS/Gleb Garanich
(Reuters) - The United States is planning a provocation in Ukraine using toxic chemicals, the Russian defence ministry said on Tuesday.
The ministry cited former U.S. ambassador to Russia John Sullivan as saying that "Russian troops plan to use chemical weapons in the special military operation area."
"We regard this information as the intention of the United States and their accomplices to carry out a provocation in Ukraine using toxic chemicals," Igor Kirillov, chief of the radiation, chemical and biological defence troops of Russia's armed forces said during a briefing.
He said that Russia "will identify and punish the true culprits."
(Reporting by Reuters; Editing by Tom Hogue)
