Russian troops have begun the use of new special gas grenades, identified as RG-Vo, against Ukrainian troops. These grenades contain an irritant toxic agent.
This was reported by Militarnyi, citing Captain Andrii Rudyk, a spokesperson from the Centre for Research on Trophy and Advanced Weapons and Military Equipment of the General Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces.
According to Captain Rudik, Russian troops first used these new grenades against Ukrainian defenders in December 2023. The RG-Vo grenade contains a toxic chemical compound known as chloroacetophenone (CWS symbol), better known as military designation CN. This fact was confirmed by experts from the Kyiv Scientific Research Institute of Forensic Expertise and was disclosed during a briefing at the Military Media Center by Captain Andriy Rudik.
He emphasized that chloroacetophenone, used by the aggressors, is a lethal poisonous substance classified as a lacrimator agent. Its lethal toxicity dosage is 11 mg-min/m³. “Approximately 70 drops of such gas are sufficient to kill an adult person,” Captain Andriy Rudik stated.
Chloroacetophenone (CN) has a sharp, irritating odor (sometimes described as “apple blossoms” odor).
The Geneva Protocol prohibited Chloroacetophenone on the prohibition of the use of asphyxiating, poisonous, or other gases in war and of bacteriological methods of warfare in 1925. Additionally, it was banned for use in combat conditions by the United Nations General Assembly resolution A/RES/2603, titled “Question of Chemical and Bacteriological (Biological) Weapons,” in 1969. Captain Andriy Rudik pointed out that the Russian Federation remains a signatory to both of these documents.
Rudik added that in December 2023, a total of 81 cases of Russian grenades containing poisonous substances were recorded.