this post was submitted on 17 Mar 2024
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[–] Eheran@lemmy.world 39 points 8 months ago (1 children)

Tens of thousands of dollars? That kind of money is not exactly nothing, even for Western people.

Then, suddenly, Ukrainian drones began firing bullets and tear gas at the men.

Note there are no drones that shoot except for (one?) very special cases where they drove on a road. Dropping tear gas would be a war crime and we know Russia is doing that. He might have been hit green on green.

[–] hydroptic@sopuli.xyz 16 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago) (1 children)

Dropping tear gas would be a war crime and we know Russia is doing that. He might have been hit green on green.

That would really be par for the course for Russians. They have of course been claiming that Ukrainians have been using drone-dropped tear gas grenades, but I would bet one of my kidneys that that's just the same old "NO U" they do with every war crime they commit.

At least based on Ukrainian sources (see eg this article from the Arms Control Association), it seems like Russians have been using more chemical weapons in the recent months. Tear gas (CS) and chloropicrin (PS) have been said to be used, both of which would make sense as they have Soviet stock grenades for both.

At least they're both still on the milder end of agents, although neither is exactly a joke in the sort of concentrations used in military applications. PS especially will fuck your lungs up

[–] Maalus@lemmy.world 10 points 8 months ago (2 children)

Tear gas is banned for military use not because it's exceptionally harmful, but because all chemical weapons are banned. The exception being tear gas use for riot control. One could argue that seeing some kind of chemical weapon used (like tear gas) could lead the other side to use ones that kill in minutes (novichok, sarin) since it's kinda hard to determine what's comming "your way" in that situation.

[–] T156@lemmy.world 4 points 8 months ago

It's also indiscriminate and persistent, so you could have medics and things caught in the crossfire, even if they arrive afterwards, and weren't the intended targets.

[–] hydroptic@sopuli.xyz 1 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago)

Yep, I think the blanket ban makes sense exactly due to the reasons you outlined. My point was more that at least it's not like they're just chucking Novichok agents at the Ukrainians, and are sticking to less horrible agents at least for now. Still a war crime and I wouldn't want to be on the receiving end of either of those – even just CS at high enough concentrations will make your skin feel like it's on fire, and I can say from experience that it's not fun at all. While PS is technically for riot control, it's classified as a lung damaging agent and in high concentrations can even kill