Russia could be planning a chemical or biological weapon attack in Ukraine, the White House has warned.
Press secretary Jen Psaki said: “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.”
It comes after Western officials shared similar concerns about fresh attacks.
They said they were “very concerned” about the risk the war could escalate, and particularly the possibility of Russia using non-conventional weapons.
This most likely refers to chemical weapons although the term also covers tactical nuclear weapons, biological weapons and dirty bombs.
Earlier on Wednesday, the UK Ministry of Defence said in a tweet that Russia had used thermobaric rockets in Ukraine. These rockets are also known as vacuum bombs because they suck in oxygen from the surrounding air to generate a high-temperature explosion.
This makes them more devastating than conventional explosives of a similar size, and can have a terrible impact on people caught in their blast radius.
Meanwhile Russia’s foreign minister has claimed Ukraine had been seeking nuclear weapons.
Some believe Moscow is pushing these claims to come up with a justification for its own public about why it invaded Ukraine.
Russia has used chemical weapons on multiple occasions against civilians in Syria earlier.