Russia Ukraine war latest: US accuses Putin of using chemical weapons as ballistic missile strike hits Odesa

The US has sanctioned nearly 300 companies and individuals from China, Russia, and several other countries for allegedly supporting Russia’s defence industry and helping it evade American sanctions over the war in Ukraine.

The US Department of the Treasury said on Wednesday that it had imposed sanctions on nearly 200 entities and the State Department on more than 80 to “degrade Russia’s ability to sustain its war machine” in Ukraine.

The sanctioned entities, located in Azerbaijan, Belgium, China, Russia, Turkey, the UAE and Slovakia, have allegedly enabled Russia to “acquire desperately needed technology and equipment from abroad”.

A Russian ballistic missile struck a postal depot in the Ukrainian port of Odesa late on Wednesday, injuring 14 people and triggering a large fire, regional governor Oleh Kiper said.

It was the third missile attack on the city in as many days.

Pictures and a video posted online showed flames and billowing clouds of smoke engulfing buildings and firefighters training their hoses on areas still ablaze. Most of the loading area appeared to have been reduced to a shell.

The United States accused Russia of violating the global ban on chemical weapons by deploying the choking agent chloropicrin against Ukrainian troops.

Chloropicrin causes severe irritation to the eyes, skin and lungs, and was used in large quantities during World War I, according to the US’s National Institute for Occupational Health and Safety.

In a statement on Wednesday, the State Department said: “The use of such chemicals is not an isolated incident and is probably driven by Russian forces’ desire to dislodge Ukrainian forces from fortified positions and achieve tactical gains on the battlefield.”