Chemical weapons: NATO to provide Ukraine with equipment to counter Russian threat
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg says the Western military alliance has agreed to provide Ukraine with equipment to protect itself against chemical, biological, and nuclear threats from Russia.
Speaking at the emergency NATO summit in Brussels on the war in Ukraine, Stoltenberg said the package includes medical support and training for contamination and crisis management.
It comes amid fears that if the Russian campaign gets increasingly bogged down following the failure of the early assault to achieve its objectives, Vladimir Putin may look to escalate the conflict or resort to a spectacular atrocity to shift the balance in Moscow's favour.
The NATO chief said leaders are concerned, "partly because we see the rhetoric and we see that Russia is trying to create some kind of pretext" that it could use "chemical and biological weapons" in Ukraine.
"Any use of chemical weapons will completely change the nature of the conflict" and "will have widespread consequences", he added.
"It will affect the people of Ukraine, but there's also a risk it will have a direct effect on people living in NATO countries."
"Our top military commander General [Tod] Wolters has activated NATO's chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear defence elements," he said of the move to provide Ukraine with material support.
Stoltenberg told reporters that NATO leaders have agreed the creation of "four new battle groups" in Bulgaria, Hungary, Romania and Slovakia — bringing the total to "eight multinational NATO battle groups now from the Baltic Sea to the Black Sea".
Outlining a reset of long-term NATO deterrence, the secretary general said it would see the deployment of "substantially more forces... at higher alertness", with more fighter jets,
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