The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) has identified another Russian officer in the chain of command responsible for ordering the use of chemical weapons on Ukrainian troops.
The SBU said Colonel Roman Shkroba, the commander of the 123rd Motorized Rifle Brigade of Russia’s Southern Military District, ordered the use of K-51 and RG-Vo gas grenades in Ukraine’s Donetsk region in December 2023.
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Both K-51 and RG-Vo are riot-control tear gas grenades. While tear gas grenades are widely used by police forces for riot controls, they are considered chemical weapons and thus are banned in wars under the Geneva Protocol of 1925.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement last month that they have documented thousands of instances of Russian troops using banned chemical weapons in Ukraine.
“From February 2023 to February 2025, 6,129 cases of the use by Russian occupiers of ammunition containing dangerous chemicals, including 2-chlorobenzalmalononitrile (CS), chloroacetophenone (CN), as well as chloropicrin and mercaptans (malodorants), were documented,” the Foreign Ministry wrote.
According to an SBU press release on Friday, Shkroba ordered the use of chemical weapons to force Ukrainian troops out of shelters during assaults.
“Using chemical weapons, the enemy tried to break through the defenses of Ukrainian troops during continuous fighting in the area of the village of Spirne,” the press release says.
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As of December 2024, more than 2,000 Ukrainian troops have been hospitalized due to chemical weapons poisoning caused by substances deployed by Russian forces since the onset of Moscow’s 2022 full-scale invasion. At least three people have died.
Shkroba has been issued suspicion in absentia – a prerequisite in legal proceedings before a charge is filed – for “war crimes committed by a group of persons in prior conspiracy” under the Criminal Code of Ukraine.
War crime prosecutions are generally pursued under national jurisdiction due to the sheer amount of cases – over 122,000 cases as of February 2024 – among other reasons.
Generally speaking, only cases pertaining to the president, prime minister and minister of foreign affairs of a foreign state are referred to the International Criminal Court (ICC) due to their immunity from national prosecution.
In December 2024, the SBU issued an order of suspicion in absentia for Lieutenant General Igor Kirillov, Russia’s head of the radiation, chemical and biological protection troops, for ordering the use of chemical weapons.
Kirillov was assassinated in Moscow by the SBU via an exploding scooter the same month.
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