Thread by @Telegraph

🚨Vladimir Putin could use chemical weapons to break the siege of Mariupol.

Warnings from the US of “clear signs” Russia is considering using chemical or biological weapons in Ukraine have raised the spectre of gas attacks🧵👇
telegraph.co.uk/world-news/202…

⚠️There are fears Ukraine may soon experience scenes all too familiar from Syria…

…where witnesses described watching helplessly as their loved ones choked to death after chemical weapons were used

🗣️“The thing about Putin is, if he has an instrument, he wants to use it. Why have it if you can’t?” Fiona Hill, the British-born Russia expert and former White House advisor said last month

🗣️“The Russians have already used a weapons-grade nerve agent, Novichok.

“Once in Salisbury, England, where it was rubbed all over the doorknob of Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia...The second time was in Alexander Navalny’s underpants”

🇺🇸US intelligence has been remarkably accurate in predicting Russia’s actions in the war so far, and the timing of the latest warning raises concerns for the fate of Mariupol.

The city has held out for almost a month against relentless shelling

Russia appears hellbent on capturing the Mariupol, and has committed more than 6,000 troops to the battle without success.

➡️Electricity, food, water and medical supplies have been cut off, yet still residents refuse to surrender

It is the sort of scenario where many observers fear Putin could turn to weapons of mass destruction

🇺🇦Mariupol is a strategic port, but at this point its significance may lie more in Putin’s need for something he can sell to Russians as a victory.

Seizing the city would give Russia a land bridge to Crimea and cut Ukraine off from the Sea of Azov

🔴But there are doubts over Russia’s capability to carry out sustained traditional chemical weapons attacks of the sort seen in Syria and in the Iran-Iraq war.

Read more👇
telegraph.co.uk/world-news/202…