TEHRAN- Russia says it has evidence that the United States has been running a secret “military-biological program” in Ukraine, something Washington has denied and Kyiv insists the facilities were operational for civilian research.

A Russian military briefing says the Pentagon’s Defense Threat Reduction Agency is “financing and conducting military biological research on the territory of Ukraine”. The briefing cited documents it says Russian forces captured at several facilities during Moscow’s military operation in the country. 

Among other activities, the briefing said research was carried out at laboratories in Kyiv, Kharkiv, and Odessa to “study the possibility of the spread of particularly dangerous infections through migrating birds or bats.”

The Russian foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, has echoed similar remarks saying American-backed labs in Ukraine were working to “develop ethnically targeted biological weapons.”

At a UN Security Council session to discuss the matter, the Russian permanent representative to the UN, Vasily Nebenzya, delivered a lengthy warning over the possible biological weapons and repeated that birds and bats, according to the envoy, intended to spread disease that would cross Ukraine’s western border.

He called on the Security Council “to think about a very real biological danger to the people in European countries, which can result from an uncontrolled spread of bioagents from Ukraine,” Nebenzya said. “And if there is a such a scenario then all Europe will be covered.”

“The risk of this is very real given the interests of.... groups in Ukraine are showing towards the work with dangerous pathogens conducted together with the ministry of defense of the United States,” he added. 

His American counterpart, Linda Thomas-Greenfield dismissed the accusations, as has the administration of U.S. President Joe Biden which described them as absurd. 

At the emergency Security Council meeting called by Moscow, Russia’s accusations against Washington received the backing of China.

Izumi Nakamitsu, the UN High Representative for Disarmament Affairs, told the council the United Nations was "not aware" of any biological weapons program in Ukraine. 

Back in Beijing, Zhao Lijian the Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman told reporters “Russia has found during its military operations that the U.S. uses these facilities to conduct bio-military plans.”

“It has 26 bio-labs and other related facilities in Ukraine, over which the U.S. Department of Defense has absolute control,” he added. “All dangerous pathogens in Ukraine must be stored in these labs and all research activities are led by the U.S. side.”

Washington has dismissed the allegations, but in what many analysts have concluded was an unintended admission, President Biden’s Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs, Victoria Nuland, appearing before a Senate Committee acknowledged that Ukraine does, in fact, have “biological research facilities,” voicing concerns that “Russian forces may be seeking to gain control of” hazardous materials from those labs. 

Asked if Ukraine does have “chemical or biological weapons?”  

Nuland answered “Ukraine has biological research facilities, which, In fact, we are now quite concerned Russian troops, Russian forces, may be seeking to gain control of. So, we are working with the Ukrainians on how they can prevent any of those research materials from falling into the hands of Russian forces should they approach.”

Some observers have suggested that Nuland is effectively saying whatever happened or was being developed in these labs is so dangerous that the senior American official has expressed “concern” the research material inside the biological labs might fall into the hands of Russian forces.

Investigative journalist, Dilyana Gaytandzhieva, who has conducted extensive research on such matters says “the U.S. Army regularly produces deadly viruses, bacteria, and toxins in direct violation of the UN Convention on the prohibition of Biological Weapons. Hundreds of thousands of unwitting people are systematically exposed to dangerous pathogens and other incurable diseases. Bio-warfare scientists using diplomatic cover test man-made viruses at Pentagon bio laboratories in 25 countries across the world”. 

According to former U.S. intelligence officer, Scott Ritter, unless Ukraine or the American administration can prove otherwise, the available evidence points to the U.S. and Kyiv operating biological laboratories which may have violated the Biological and Toxins Weapons Convention.

He explains that “there might be an innocuous answer out there. But until it is provided, it appears that Russia did in Ukraine what the U.S. was unable to in Iraq, launched an attack on a nation which was in possession of prohibited biological weapons.”

The spokesperson for the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Maria Zakharova insists that “we [Russia] confirm that, during the special military operation in Ukraine, the Kyiv [government] was found to have been concealing traces of a military biological program implemented with funding from the United States Department of Defense.”

According to Zakharova, the Ukrainian Ministry of Health, on February 24, which coincides with the first day of the Russian military operation, had ordered all the Ukrainian biological labs to “urgently” eradicate the stored reserves of “highly hazardous pathogens of plague, anthrax, rabbit fever, cholera, and other lethal diseases.” 

She notes that evidence such as documents on the “urgent eradication” of the pathogens was “received from employees of Ukrainian laboratories.” 

The spokesperson did point out that more work was being done by the Russian Ministry of Defense to fully assess the documents in question. However, Zakharova said Russia was able to conclude “that components of biological weapons were being developed in Ukrainian laboratories in direct proximity to Russian territory.” 

“The urgent eradication of highly hazardous pathogens on February 24 was ordered to prevent exposing a violation of Article I of the Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention (BTWC) by Ukraine and the United States,” she added. 

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has argued that any Biolabs in his country have no military dimension and are “focused on civilian science” saying that “neither chemical weapons nor other weapons of mass destruction are being developed on our soil.”

Meanwhile, on the battleground, reports suggest major fighting is ongoing in Ukraine’s east and further advancements by Russian troops on the capital Kyiv. 

The Russian Defense Minister, Sergey Shoigu, speaking to the country’s Security Council in Moscow has also touched on the weapons the Russian military has seized in Ukraine saying “we have accumulated plenty of Ukrainian weapons, including tanks, armored vehicles, all kinds of small arms in large quantities, [and] artillery. We also have many Javelin and Stinger systems,” the minister reported. He was referring to the U.S.-made portable anti-aircraft and anti-tank missiles, which Washington and its allies delivered to Kyiv ahead of the start of the conflict.

“There is a proposal to hand [the weapons] over to the militias of the Lugansk and Donetsk republics so that they could more effectively defend themselves,” Shoigu said.

The two breakaway regions have been fighting Ukrainian government troops since 2014. Shoigu has also suggested the rebels could benefit from advanced Russian-made weapons, including air defense and anti-tank systems. President Vladimir Putin is said to have approved the ideas, with reports that he will sign the relevant orders, if necessary.

Since the Russian military operation began, Ukraine has complained about the lack of support from its Western allies. The Ukrainian government has repeatedly called for a no-fly zone to be implemented over its airspace to end Russian air attacks, something NATO members have repeatedly rejected, saying it would put the military alliance in direct confrontation with Russia. 

Elsewhere, international aid organizations are continuing to warn about the dire humanitarian situation, calling for a diplomatic solution to the crisis. Putin says there has been some progress in negotiations between Russian and Ukrainian delegations citing “positive shifts.”

The latest round of talks between the two sides have advanced to a face-to-face level meeting between the foreign ministers of both Russia and Ukraine in Turkey.