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VLADIMIR Putin’s missiles have pounded Kharkiv in another night of heavy shelling amid the White House’s warnings of biological weapons.
Horror images show the aftermath of another night of airstrikes and shelling by the Russians.
An alarming video shows a shopping centre in the besieged city entirely destroyed with soldiers trying to walk through the rubble.
Unverified footage, believed to have been filmed on Wednesday, appeared to show heavy shelling in the city with civilians running to safety.
The attack comes just hours after a maternity hospital was bombed in Mariupol, leaving seventeen people wounded.
Harrowing images showed expectant mums and staff evacuating the building after the airstrike that was carried out during an agreed ceasefire.
President Volodymyr Zelensky branded the attack an “atrocity” and called once again the West to impose a no-fly zone over Ukraine.
Sharing the footage on social media the Ukrainian President said: “Direct strike of Russian troops at the maternity hospital. People, children are under the wreckage. Atrocity!
“How much longer will the world be an accomplice ignoring terror? Close the sky right now! Stop the killings! You have power but you seem to be losing humanity.”
Meanwhile, the White House has warned that Russia could “possibly use chemical or biological weapons” in Ukraine or “create a false flag operation using them.”
The warning comes in response to Russia’s claim that the US is involved in bioweapons research in labs in Ukraine.
Moscow spokesperson Maria Zakharova told reporters: “We can conclude that in Ukrainian laboratories close to our borders, components of biological weapons were being developed.
“The urgent destruction of these materials was ordered in order not to disclose the materials and the programmes that were being made there.”
White House press secretary Jen Psaki branded the claim “preposterous propaganda” adding that it is “exactly the kind of disinformation operation” spread by Russia over the years.
The Press Secretary tweeted: “This is preposterous. It’s the kind of disinformation operation we’ve seen repeatedly from the Russians over the years in Ukraine and in other countries, which have been debunked, and an example of the types of false pretexts we have been warning the Russians would invent.”
She noted that the US government is in full compliance with the Chemical Weapons Convention and the Biological Weapons Convention adding: “It’s Russia that has long maintained a biological weapons program in violation of international law.
“Also, Russia has a track record of accusing the West of the very violations that Russia itself is perpetrating.
“In December, Russia falsely accused the U.S. of deploying contractors with chemical weapons in Ukraine.”
It comes as…
She continued: “This is all an obvious ploy by Russia to try to try to justify its further premeditated, unprovoked, and unjustified attack on Ukraine.
“Now that Russia has made these false claims, and China has seemingly endorsed this propaganda, we should all be on the lookout for Russia to possibly use chemical or biological weapons in Ukraine, or to create a false flag operation using them. It’s a clear pattern.”
Earlier today the Ministry of Defence said that Russia has used thermobaric weapons during the invasion of Ukraine.
The MoD shared an informational video about the weapon and its impact, on Twitter and said: “The Russian MoD has confirmed the use of the TOS-1A weapon system in Ukraine.
“The TOS-1A uses thermobaric rockets, creating incendiary and blast effects.”
Western officials fear Vladimir Putin will use non-conventional weapons such as weaponised sarin, chlorine and mustard gas.
They said: “We’ve got good reason to be concerned about possible use of non-conventional weapons.
“Partly because we’ve seen what has happened in other theatres for example in Syria… so it’s a serious concern for us.”
US intelligence chiefs warned that the Russian President could unleash mini-nukes in a warning to Nato if his “clusterf**k” invasion continues.
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