BRITAIN'S WARNING ON PUTIN'S ‘CHEMICAL WEAPONS'

MINISTER SAYS ‘ALL OPTIONS ARE ON TABLE’ AMID UNVERIFIED CLAIMS OF MARIUPOL ATTACK

- Nicholas Cecil, Rachael Burford and David Bond

BRITAIN warned Vladimir Putin today that “all possible options are on the table” about how the West would respond to his use of chemical weapons amid claims that such an attack had already been launched in Mariupol.

Armed forces minister James Heappey did not rule out that British or Nato troops could be deployed in Ukraine if the Kremlin used chemical weapons as it desperately seeks to capture land in the east of the country. Chemical weapons experts from the US, UK and their allies, as well as in Ukraine, were this morning urgently seeking to identify whether Ukrainian fighters holding out in the besieged port city had been targeted with weapons. “There is a theory that these could be phosphorus munitions,” said Ukraine’s deputy defence minister Hanna Malyar.

Mr Heappey remained cautious about whether Mr Putin’s forces had used chemical weapons, stating that this had not been confirmed. However, he issued a clear warning to the Russian president. “These are appalling weapons to think about using,” he told Sky News. “It’s useful to maintain some ambiguity over exactly what the response would be but let’s be clear if they are used at all then President Putin should know that all possible options are on the table in terms of how the West might respond.”