MOSCOW, June 25. /TASS/. Documents obtained during the special operation confirmed Kiev's interest in working with weapons of mass destruction, said Chief of Russia’s Radiation, Chemical and Biological Protection Troops Lieutenant-General Igor Kirillov.

"Over the course of the special military operation, documents from the Main Investigative Directorate of the Security Service of Ukraine were obtained, which confirmed the Kiev regime's interest in continuing work with weapons of mass destruction," he said at a news conference on the subject of military-biological activities by the US and Ukraine.

According to the military official, the Security Service of Ukraine, sent an inquiry to the National Academy of Sciences in October 2023 about whether the academy’s organizations had the capabilities to conduct research on samples of chemical, radiological, biological and nuclear weapons, and received confirmation of dual-use research. The research was conducted under an agreement that was signed in 2005 between the US Department of Defense and the Ukrainian Health Ministry for cooperation in preventing the spread of technologies, pathogens, and information that could be used to develop biological weapons.

The reply also detailed the capabilities of the Odessa Anti-Plague Institute laboratory, as well as plans to upgrade it to the BSL-3 level with the help of the Pentagon’s funds.

"Collections of such particularly dangerous pathogens as plague and cholera are still being kept in storage," Kirillov quoted the reply as saying.

"Let me remind you that Washington's main goal is to bring strains of dangerous pathogens and biomaterials out of Ukraine, as well as to implement a number of very specific programs codenamed 'UP' and 'TAP.' Here are, for example, 'UP-4': 'Study of the possibility of spreading particularly dangerous pathogens through migratory birds;' 'UP-10': 'Study of the spread of African swine fever in Ukraine in the wild and through trade routes,'" the general said.

He noted that, unlike the Lugar Research Center in Georgia, which was bankrolled by the Pentagon, the Americans limited themselves to minor financial investments in upgrading biological research sites in Ukraine. The US projects did not lead to an improvement of the sanitary and epidemic situation in Ukraine and, with the assistance of Ulyana Suprun, were wrapped up with virtually zero effect for the Ukrainian health care system, Kirillov said.