World News | Russia accuses Kyiv of poisoning its soldiers in Ukraine with Zaporozhye

Kyiv [Ukraine]Aug. 20 (ANI): As the Russian-Ukrainian war enters its 178th day, Moscow has said in new allegations that Kyiv is poisoning some of its soldiers in Ukraine, according to media reports.

According to Al Jazeera, the Russian Defense Ministry has accused Ukraine of poisoning some of its troops in late July in parts of Russia-controlled parts of the Zaporozhye region of southeastern Ukraine.

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In response to the suspected poisoning, an adviser to the Ukrainian Interior Ministry said that the poisoning may have been caused by the consumption of expired canned meat by the Russian army.

On July 31, several Russian soldiers were taken to a military hospital with signs of severe poisoning, the Russian Defense Ministry said. Tests revealed that they contained the toxic substance botulinum toxin type B. “Russia is preparing supporting evidence for all the results of the analysis,” the ministry said in a statement.

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Meanwhile, the Kremlin said in a statement that Russian President Vladimir Putin and French President Emmanuel Macron had a phone conversation on Friday to discuss the situation in Ukraine.

Putin stressed in the phone call that “the systematic shelling of the territory of the Zaporozhye nuclear power plant (NPP) by the Ukrainian military” poses the risk of disaster, which could lead to large-scale radiation contamination.

“Discussions focused on various aspects of the situation around Ukraine. Vladimir Putin in particular emphasized that the regular attacks on the Zaporozhye nuclear power plant by the Ukrainian military pose the risk of a major nuclear catastrophe that could lead to massive radiation contamination of the territory,” the statement said. wrote in.

Ukraine and Russia recently exchanged accusations over the shelling of the Zaporozhye nuclear power plant, one of the largest in Europe, generating a quarter of Ukraine’s electricity.

Putin and Macron noted in the phone call the importance of sending an IAEA delegation to the Zaporozhye nuclear power plant as soon as possible to assess the real situation on the site, the statement said.

“Both leaders pointed to the importance of sending an IAEA delegation to the plant as soon as possible so that experts can assess the situation on the ground. The Russian side confirmed its readiness to provide the agency’s inspectors with the necessary assistance,” the Kremlin said.

Vladimir Putin also said that Russia had invited experts from the UN Secretariat and the International Committee of the Red Cross to visit the pretrial detention centre in Yelenovka, where a large number of Ukrainian prisoners of war were killed in a missile attack by the Ukrainian armed forces. Ukraine.

Putin also briefed Macron on the implementation of the food export agreement signed in Istanbul last month, stressing that there are still obstacles to Russia’s export of food and fertilizers to the world market.

“The Russian president also informed the French leadership about the progress of the package of agreements signed in Istanbul on July 22 to facilitate Ukrainian grain exports from Black Sea ports and Russian food and fertilizer exports to world markets,” the statement said.

Putin pointed to the aforementioned obstacles to Russian exports, adding that the situation would do nothing to solve global food security problems. (ANI)

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from the Syndicated News feed, the body of the content may not have been modified or edited by LatestLY staff)