Russian forces may employ the use of phosphorous bombs in eastern Ukraine as Vladimir Putin’s army prepares to escalate military actions in the region, the British Ministry of Defense warned on Monday.
Phosphorus is highly toxic and can cause severe burns on human flesh. Under international law, phosphorus munitions are prohibited from use near civilians, but Russia’s reliance on unguided bombs in Ukraine may put the civilian population in cities such as Mariupol at risk of death or injury from the incendiary weapon, the British Ministry of Defense said.
“Russian forces’ prior use of phosphorous munitions in the Donetsk Oblast raises the possibility of their future employment in Mariupol as fighting for the city intensifies,” the United Kingdom’s Defense Ministry said in an intelligence update on Monday. “Russian shelling has continued in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions, with Ukrainian forces repulsing several assaults resulting in the destruction of Russian tanks, vehicles, and artillery equipment.”
“Russia’s continued reliance on unguided bombs decreases their ability to discriminate when targeting and conducting strikes while greatly increasing the risk of further civilian casualties,” the British intelligence update on Ukraine concluded.
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White phosphorus is a waxlike substance that can be used in munitions such as artillery shells, bombs, and rockets to illuminate the battlefield at night or create a smoke screen during the day.
When used as a weapon, phosphorus is “notorious for the severity of the injuries it causes,” such as severe burns or even death, according to Human Rights Watch.
“White phosphorus can burn people to the bone, smolder inside the body, and reignite when bandages are removed,” according to Human Rights Watch.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky accused the Kremlin’s forces last month of using phosphorus bombs in Ukraine, claiming that “people were killed,” including children, by the munitions.
Phosphorus is not classed as a chemical weapon under the Chemical Weapons Convention, but international law has limitations on the use of incendiary weapons, prohibiting them in areas where civilians are present.
Russian forces have been accused throughout the war of targeting civilians.
The United Nations human rights chief said last month that there are at least 24 credible cases in which it appears Russian forces have used clusters bombs in Ukraine.
Michelle Bachelet, the U.N. high commissioner for human rights, told the U.N. Human Rights Council in Geneva, Switzerland, that the indiscriminate attacks on civilians by Putin’s army “may amount to war crimes.”
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Nearly 500 civilians have been found slaughtered in the Ukrainian towns of Bucha and Borodyanka since they were liberated earlier this month.
The U.N. said over 1,400 civilians have been killed in Ukraine since Russia’s Feb. 24 invasion.
