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Military operation in Ukraine

Kiev authorities order to mine tanks with chemicals in Severodonetsk — Defense Ministry

Сhief of Russia’s National Defense Management Center Mikhail Mizintsev stressed that civilians could suffer as a result

MOSCOW, June 4. /TASS/. The Kiev authorities ordered the Armed Forces of Ukraine to mine containers with saltpeter and nitric acid with a total mass of more than 100 tonnes at an enterprise in Severodonetsk, Colonel-General Mikhail Mizintsev, chief of Russia’s National Defense Management Center, said on Saturday.

"Understanding the impossibility of further resistance and holding the industrial zone in Severodonetsk, the Kiev authorities ordered the combined tactical group <...> to mine containers with saltpeter and nitric acid, the total volume of which exceeds 100 tonnes at the Azot enterprise in Severodonetsk. According to the plan of the Kiev regime, blowing up these tanks with toxic chemicals will supposedly delay the advance of the Russian Armed Forces by creating a zone of chemical contamination," said Mizintsev, who heads the Russian interdepartmental headquarters for humanitarian response in Ukraine.

He stressed that civilians could suffer as a result, as happened on May 31 with the residents of Kremennaya and Rubizhny settlements when the nationalists blew up a tank with nitric acid at the same enterprise. According to Mizintsev, the Kiev authorities plan to accuse the Russian Armed Forces of creating a man-made environmental disaster with widespread dissemination of content in Ukrainian and Western media.

The Colonel-General added that during the battles for Severodonetsk, the Armed Forces of Ukraine retreat in the direction of Lisichansk and suffer critical losses, some units lost up to 90%.

On May 31, retreating units of the 79th Airborne Assault Brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine blew up a tank with nitric acid on the territory of the Azot enterprise in Severodonetsk, as reported by the Russian Defense Ministry. After the explosion, a poisonous orange cloud rose, which moved towards the settlements of Kremennaya and Rubizhnoye, as a result of which civilians suffered from toxic substances.

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Military operation in Ukraine

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