France was deeply concerned by the report issued by the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) on February 14 confirming the use of a chemical agent in three incidents in Ukraine's Dnipropetrovsk region last year: near the village of Marivka on October 2, and near the village of Illinka on October 12 and 14.
This is the OPCW's second report highlighting the presence of riot control agents on the front line and follows numerous accounts by Ukraine of violations of the Chemical Weapons Convention.
This report is based on independent analyses by OPCW-designated laboratories of samples collected on the ground after the OPCW technical assistance visit requested by Ukraine confirmed the samples' origin.
France fully supports the OPCW's work and urges it to continue its investigations on this subject in order to get to the bottom of the use of these chemical agents in the war of aggression against Ukraine and to determine responsibility.
In signing the Chemical Weapons Convention, its 193 states-parties pledged not to use riot control agents as methods of warfare. Such actions constitute a flagrant violation of international law, which France condemns in the strongest possible terms.