Stressing NATO’s concern about the potential use of chemical or biological weapons in the war in Ukraine, the alliance chief Jens Stoltenberg informed ahead of Thursday’s summit that NATO leaders will agree on additional support for Ukraine, which will also include protective equipment.
According to him, the additional support should include additional cybersecurity assistance as well as equipment to protect against chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear threats.
It is also expected that NATO leaders would agree to send four new battlegroups in Bulgaria, Hungary, Romania, and Slovakia to boost the alliance’s military presence in Eastern Europe.
If that goes as planned, it would be the first time for NATO to send to a partner country such supplies to counter weapons of mass destruction.
Stoltenberg pointed out that although NATO will not send the troops into Ukraine, it is extremely important to provide support for the country, underscoring that any use of chemical weapons would totally change the nature of the conflict and have far-reaching consequences.
He also added that NATO would call on Russia’s President Vladimir Putin to stop his nuclear saber-rattling after previously accusing Moscow of spreading the unproven claims that Ukraine had developed a biological weapons program and warning it against using those claims as a possible pretext for potentially launching biochemical attacks.
Russia’s Defense Ministry repeatedly accused Kyiv of planning a false flag chemical attack against its own people so it can accuse Moscow of using chemical weapons but provided no evidence for such claims.
Meanwhile, a senior NATO official, speaking ahead of the NATO summit on the condition of anonymity, accused Russia of carpet-bombing Mariupol, also addressing fears that Putin could turn to weapons of mass destruction.
The NATO official said that the Alliance is preparing for two main types of potential chemical weapons attacks by Russia in Ukraine: a false-flag operation or a chemical attack delivered by military means, mentioning the large quantities of ammonia and nitrates in Ukraine.
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