Ukraine's Troops Blow Up Acid Tank To Stop Offensive Of Russian, Donetsk Military - Moscow

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 02nd June, 2022) Ukrainian forces have blown up a tank full of acid on the territory of the Severodonetsk Azot Association chemical enterprise in Ukraine in an attempt to stop the offensive of the Russian and Donetsk military, injuring civilians as a result, a senior Russian defense official said on Wednesday.

"On May 31, 2022, at around 19:00, retreating units of the 79th Airborne Assault Brigade of the Ukrainian armed forces blown up a tank with a toxic chemical substance (nitric acid) on the territory of the Severodonetsk Azot enterprise in order to stop the advancing units of the Russian armed forces and units of the Donetsk People's Republic by creating a chemical contamination zone," Col. Gen. Mikhail Mizintsev, the head of the Russian National Defense Control Center, who also leads Russia's humanitarian response coordination headquarters, told a briefing.

He added that after the explosion an orange toxic cloud rose to a height of about 1 kilometer (0.62 miles) and then moved in the direction of the cities of Kreminna and Rubizhne in the breakaway Luhansk People's Republic.

Mizintsev also said that "Ukrainian neo-Nazis were not stopped by the fact that innocent civilians suffered as a result of this terrorist act involving a toxic chemical substance."

On February 24, Russia launched a military operation in Ukraine after the breakaway republics of Donetsk and Luhansk appealed for help in defending themselves against Ukrainian forces.