A Ukrainian official on Tuesday, March 22, claimed he had hard evidence RF forces attacking the eastern city Kramatorsk used treaty-banned white phosphorus artillery shells against civilian homes and businesses.
National police spokesman Oleksy Beloshchitsky in a Tuesday morning social media post said: “We have another case of the use of phosphorus munitions in Kramatorsk. They are banned by treaty – but that is for the civilized world.”
A long-burning chemical, white phosphorus is used by most armies as the primary component of smoke munitions used to mark targets or mask friendly forces. Its other main use is to set fires, because the chemical will burn almost anything inflammable, until running out of fuel, including flesh.
White phosphorus flame is difficult to extinguish with water. Its smoke is toxic and can suffocate.
Media images posted by Beloshchitsky and other users showed what appeared to be globs of white phosphorus burning in grass next to a civilian sidewalk.
The Geneva Convention – a document subscribed to by both Kyiv and Moscow – bans the use of incendiary weapons against civilian structures.
