Boris Johnson tonight declared he “fears” Russia may use chemical weapons in Ukraine.
The Prime Minister is the most senior figure yet to sound the alarm after concerns about chemical weapons were voiced over the last 24 hours by Western officials, the US, and Foreign Secretary Liz Truss.
He told Sky News’ new show Beth Rigby Interviews: “I’ll make you one other prediction by the way, which is the stuff you’re hearing about chemical weapons is straight out of their playbook.
“They start saying that there are chemical weapons that have been stored by their opponents or the Americans.
“And so when they themselves deploy chemical weapons, as I fear they may, they have a sort of… fake story ready to go.
“You’ve seen it in Syria, you saw it even in the UK.”
Asked if that is what he expects next, the Prime Minister replied: “I just note that that is what they’re already doing - it’s a cynical, barbaric government I’m afraid”.
Earlier Ms Truss said she was "concerned" that Vladimir Putin may use chemical weapons in Ukraine and if so it would be a "grave mistake".
She also branded the bombing of a children's hospital in the besieged city of Mariupol a "war crime"
The PM and Foreign Secretary's chilling remarks came hours after Western officials expressed "serious concerns" that Russia could use chemical weapons.
Yesterday an official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said: “We’re seeing some of the disinformation come out of Moscow about non-conventional weapons.
“We saw this in Syria, the Russians starting that talk when they or their proxies were about to use those weapons there.”
Worries are mounting among allied governments after Moscow was seen “setting the scene” for such an attack.
Russia-backed Syria was repeatedly accused of using chemical weapons in the country's bloody war, but Russia vetoed a 2017 UN resolution that would have looked into who was responsible.
The Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons found people were exposed to sarin gas in 2017 in the Khan Shaykhun area but did not identify who was responsible.
A Russian air strike badly damaged a children's hospital in the besieged Ukraniian port city of Mariupol yesterday, burying patients under rubble and injuring women in labour, Ukraine said.
The bombing, which Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky called an "atrocity," took place despite an agreed ceasefire to enable thousands of civilians trapped in the city to escape.
The city council said the hospital had been hit several times by an air strike, causing "colossal" destruction.
In tweets branded "disinformation" by Downing Street, Russia's foreign ministry claimed there were no patients at the hospital and it was being used by 'Nazi' Ukrainian forces for battle.
But Ukraine's UK ambassador last night said Russia’s bombing of a maternity and children’s hospital in Mariupol was a “red, red, red line” and NATO must intervene.
Vadym Prystaiko told BBC Question Time: “I believe there is something not that could be done, but should be done to stop it… What is the red line for NATO to come and help us?"
He also raised Putin’s attacks on fleeing civilians and a nuclear power station, saying: “All of these are very red lines we don’t want him to cross, and the sooner we tell him the better.
“If you ask me who can tell him, I would guess nations who promised to defend us when we gave up nuclear weapons - these people should tell him.
“The United States, United Kingdom, and later on China and France who all joined the memorandum.”
The UK has refused to back a no-fly zone, saying it could lead to all-out war between nuclear-armed NATO and nuclear-armed Russia.
