Russians double deployment of Mavic drones with chemical payload

This was announced by the press officer for the Tavria Grouping of Troops, Dmytro Lykhoviy, who spoke on the air of the national telethon, an Ukrinform correspondent reports.

"We see them practicing this every day. Just yesterday, we recorded five cases where the enemy dropped ammunition containing a tear gas. The total number of such drops is constantly increasing. Compared to last month, their use has almost doubled," he said.

According to Lykhoviy, in order to counter this practice, Ukraine’s forces need more drone jamming systems.

"Gas masks seemed to be vestiges of World War 1, but, unfortunately, in our war of the 21st century, the realities are such that they must also be used for protection," he added.

Earlier, the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) wrote in its report that the 810th Marine Brigade of Russia’s Black Sea Fleet has been using chemical weapons against Ukrainian troops.

In particular, their drones drop K-51 grenades on Ukrainian positions.

According to ISW, the K-51 aerosol grenades contain the CS irritant gas (2-chlorobenzmalononitrile), a type of tear gas used for riot suppression (also known as RCA, riot control agent).

At the same time, the Convention on the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons bans RCA as method of warfare. Russia has been a state party to the Convention since 1997.