Ben Wallace has warned Vladimir Putin may use chemical weapons as a “false flag operation” in his invasion of Ukraine.
The defence secretary shared three suggestions of what the world might see next from the Russian president.
The first could be Putin resorting to “encirclement, followed be persistent bombardment and siege”, he wrote, while the second might involve the introduction of chemical weapons “either using a false flag operation to attempt to justify more violence, or as a straight military tactic”.
His comments came after an aircraft repair plant was hit by Russian missiles in the western city of Lviv on Thursday morning.
The building near Danylo Halytskyi International Airport – Ukraine’s second-biggest airport – has been destroyed, city mayor Andriy Sadovy said, but no one was hurt.
Until now, Lviv – close to the border with Poland – had been largely untouched by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine that began on 24 February.
Meanwhile, 130 people have so far been rescued from the rubble of a bomb shelter beneath a theatre in Mariupol.
