Gasping for air from a trench in eastern Ukraine, an infantryman was ready for the worst when a suffocating white smoke spread into his position.

A Russian drone had just dropped a gas grenade into the trench, an internationally banned practice in warfare used to suffocate Ukrainian soldiers hiding inside. Forced out in the open, the Ukrainians immediately became vulnerable targets for Russian drones and artillery.

. . .

Russia has increasingly deployed chemical agents in its grand offensive to occupy the last cities in the Donbas region under Ukrainian control. The suffocation tactic is to take out entrenched personnel and dampen the morale of Ukrainian soldiers who – severely outmanned and outgunned – have been withdrawing village by village in the east for nearly a year.

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  • @OlapEnglish
    76•4 months ago

    Gas in WW1 changed the battlefield for about 6 weeks whilst they scrambled for gas masks, but after this it didn’t have the effect either side thought it would. A stupid distraction that will earn Putin and his generals a trip to the Hague for sure

    • @[email protected]English
      59•4 months ago

      They’ll never see the Hague, the whole argument that Putin and Xi are having is that laws should be enforced by strength of arms, and what’re you gonna do about it?!?!

      History never sounds pretty when it rhymes.

    • CethinEnglish
      8•4 months ago

      A gas mask wouldn’t work for this though, right? If it suffocates by displacing oxygen then you’d need an SCBA, not just a gas mask. That’s a lot more kit to supply and carry around.

      • @OlapEnglish
        13•4 months ago

        The thing about air: there’s a lot of it. Not many gases take that long to settle/dissipate. And a gas mask is pretty effective at filtering. I do imagine worst case scenario in the heaviest bombardment is a brief evacuation of current line of defense only, as this is what happened back in the somme. It was far more effective vs artillery: artillery regiments weren’t equipped as well and thus they were denied counter battery fire for enough time to allow front lines to cross no mans land. Which were backed up by creeping barrages, which I haven’t read much out in Ukraine yet

      • @[email protected]English
        8•4 months ago

        Partially. The article is pretty thorough, and covers many angles. I suggest reading it if you haven’t.

        It doesn’t cover the part about displacing oxygen, but I don’t think there are chemical agents that do that.

        • @[email protected]English
          2•4 months ago

          Lots an lots of any gas will, but then again so would water. It’s mostly an issue in confined spaces.

          If you see someone lying next to a container of liquid nitrogen, don’t follow them in.

    • @[email protected]English
      5•4 months ago

      Did they have gas masks for the horses? (Honest question. I guess I could look it up but… Meh)