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15 maltatoday | WEDNESDAY • 13 APRIL 2022 NEWS UKRAINE CONFLICT RUSSIAN troops are accused of using chemical agents in the port city on Monday night. The claims have not yet been inde- pendently verified but they are being looked into by Ukrainian authorities and international al- lies. "There is a theory that these could be phosphorous muni- tions," Ukraine's Deputy De- fence Minister, Hanna Malyar, said in televised comments. "Official information will come later." On Telegram, Mariupol's Azov battalion reported soldiers showing symptoms of vestibu- lo-atactic syndrome, which in- cludes dizziness, eye-flickering and nausea, after Russian occu- pation forces "used a poisonous substance of unknown origin". What are chemical weapons? As defined by the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), a chemical weapon is "a chemical used to cause intentional death or harm through its toxic properties". A toxic chemical is any chem- ical that can cause death, tem- porary incapacitation or per- manent harm to humans or animals through its chemical action on life processes. Under the Chemical Weap- ons Convention, chemical pre- cursors used to produce a toxic chemical also fall under the um- brella term. Chemical weapons can be con- tained and delivered via bombs and artillery shells. They can also be distributed through gas, liquid and solids. Munitions or devices created to inflict injury or cause death through the release of toxic chemicals, such as mortars, ar- tillery shells and mines, and any equipment designed to be used with chemical weapons are also categorised as chemical weap- ons. How do chemical weapons affect the human body? Chemical weapons can cause damage and death when in- haled, absorbed through the skin or consumed in food or drink. There are four types of chem- ical agents used in chemical weapons and each one has a different impact on the human body. Choking agents such as chlo- rine are dispersed through gas. When inhaled they cause air sacs in the lungs to discharge fluid, which can lead to death by asphyxiation. Blister agents such as sulfur mustard can be delivered in a liquid or vapour form. They cause burns to the skin, eyes, airways and lungs. Blood agents such as arsine are discharged as a vapour. On in- halation, these chemical weap- ons deprive cells of oxygen and lead to suffocation. Nerve agents such as sarin are the most deadly chemical weap- ons and can lead to death within just a few minutes of inhalation. They can be distributed via var- ious means including liquid and vapour. These highly poisonous chem- icals target the nervous sys- tem. Nerve agents can cause everything from sweating and vomiting to blurred vision and breathing difficulties, with high doses leading to seizures, mus- cle paralysis and death. Are chemical weapons banned? The First World War marked the start of the modern use of chemical weapons. During the war, chlorine and mustard gas were used to cause suffering on the battlefield. Their use in the conflict was met with public outrage and led to their ban under the Geneva Protocol in 1925. In 1997, the Chemical Weap- ons Convention came into force. It bans the development, pro- duction, stockpiling and use of chemical weapons. Under the convention, mem- ber states can produce and use toxic chemicals and precursors for peaceful purposes. Despite efforts to eliminate their production and use, the OPCW concluded that they were definitely or likely used in 17 instances by Bashar al-As- sad's regime during the Syrian Civil War. Chemical weapons: the munitions explained after Russia accused of attack in Ukraine