Putin's use of 'horrendous' chemical gas to choke Ukraine should be 'wake up call to NATO'

Putin has committed another 'war crime', commentators say (Image: Getty)

Vladimir Putin’s alleged use of a “horrendous” chemical weapon on the battlefield in Ukraine should prompt NATO to send Kyiv extra defences, an expert told Daily Express US.

Colonel Hamish Stephen de Bretton-Gordon OBE, a chemical weapons expert, said reports Russia has been using chemical weapons against Ukrainian troops signals yet another “war crime” to add to Putin’s tally.  

It comes after the US said on Wednesday that Russia has violated an international chemical weapons convention by using chloropicrin.

Colonel de Bretton-Gordon said: “The use of it is hugely significant. It is against the rules of war.”

The former military man said he knows from experience, “having had a few lungfuls myself”.

He added: “You can’t breathe, every exposed bit of your skin stings, your eyes are inflamed. It incapacitates you. You can’t do anything for the five or six minutes before you have got it all out of you. It is horrendous.”

Now, Putin’s men are reportedly using it to draw Ukrainian troops out of the trenches to attack them out in the open.

NATO countries have been urged to send Ukraine more gas masks (Image: Getty)

According to Colonel de Bretton Gordon, this is why Russia has been making ground in the last few months.

NATO should be racing to provide Ukraine with gas masks, he added.

Colonel de Bretton Gordon said: “There is a simple solution. You just give the Ukrainians gas masks so it won’t have the same impact.

“It is one of these moral issues. It is a chemical weapon at the lower end of the spectrum.

The US has since sanctioned entities associated with Russia’s chemical and biological weapons programmes as it issuing a statement condemning their usage earlier this week.

The statement read: "The use of such chemicals is not an isolated incident and is probably driven by Russian forces' desire to dislodge Ukrainian forces from fortified positions and achieve tactical gains on the battlefield.”

But Russia has blasted the US for the latest round of sanctions.

“They do not realize that their illegitimate tricks only alienate other states. In fact, they fertilize the soil of doubts about the constructiveness of America’s current role in the world."

He added: “This is an example of the continuation of numerous Russophobic actions taken by the United States in recent days.”