Mar 21, 2022: According to a report by AFP, residents of the northern Ukrainian town of Novoselytsya should seek shelter after an ammonia leak at a nearby chemical factory, an official said Monday, as intense fighting with Russian forces in the area continues.

Dmytro Zhyvytsky, the Sumy regional governor says there has been an “ammonia leakage” at the Sumykhimprom facility, affecting an area within 2.5 kilometres of the plant, which produces fertilisers.

In a message posted on Telegram, Zhyvytsky said, “Ammonia is lighter than air, therefore shelters, basements and lower floors should be used for protection,”

With the extent and cause of the incident not immediately clear, residents were told to seek refuge in basements or on lower levels of buildings to avoid exposure. Zhyyvytsky said emergency crews were at the scene and prevailing winds meant the nearby city of Sumy – with a pre-war population of around 250,000, was not under immediate threat.

Since the start of the invasion, Russia has alleged Ukraine is preparing to use improvised chemical weapons and has been developing a clandestine WMD programme.

Russian Ministry of Defence claimed late Sunday that “nationalists” had “mined” ammonia and chlorine storage facilities at Sumykhimprom “with the aim of mass poisoning of residents of the Sumy region, in case of entry into the city of units of the Russian Armed Forces”.

Russia has meanwhile also denied helping Syria use chemical weapons in multiple attacks against its own citizens during the country’s 11-year-old civil war and also against Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny as well as ex Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia.

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