MOSCOW, February 27. /TASS/. The Ukrainian army has begun to use outlawed phosphorus munitions in Kiev’s suburbs near the Gostomel airdrome, currently controlled by the Russian army, Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov told the media on Sunday.
"Unable to stop the offensive of the Russian forces, the Ukrainian army has begun to use phosphorus munitions on a massive scale near the Gostomel airdrome in Kiev’s suburbs. They fire 122-millimeter shells with D-30 howitzers and missiles for BM-21 Grad multiple launchers of Soviet manufacture," Konashenkov said.
"The use of such munitions is prohibited under the third protocol of the 1980 UN Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons," Konashenkov said.
Russian President Vladimir Putin on February 24 said in an early morning televised address he had launched a special military operation in Ukraine in response to a request for help from the leaders of the Donbass republics. He stressed that Moscow had no plans for an occupation of Ukrainian territories. The sole purpose is the country’s demilitarization and denazification. The Russian Defense Ministry has said that its forces are not attacking cities, its main targets being military infrastructures. The civilian population is not at risk, the Defense Ministry said.