Global News Podcast - Russia accused of 'widespread' use of chemical weapons

Episode Date: July 4, 2025

Dutch and German intelligence accuse Moscow of 'widespread' use of chemical weapons in Ukraine. Also; Donald Trump says a ceasefire is nearing for Gaza, and today is gonna be the day. Oasis are back!

This is the Global News podcast from the BBC World Service. I'm Paul Moss and at 13h GMT on Friday the 4th of July these are our main stories. Another night of heavy Russian bombardment of Kiev. Now Moscow is accused of using chemical weapons thousands of times in Ukraine. Also in this podcast there's a ceasefire on the horizon in Gaza. At least Donald Trump thinks so. Tips on how to escape from North Korea and... Honestly I think I'll just be like giddy as a school kid again man. To be honest it'll just transport me back like years instantly, right? The wait is almost over, Oasis are back, and some fans are pretty excited.

The sounds from Kiev on Thursday night, anti-aircraft fire as the city's defenders try desperately to bring down some of more than 500 drones which were launched at Ukraine's capital. One person was killed and 26 others injured by the overnight attacks and some of the city's transport infrastructure was damaged. Ukraine's Foreign Minister Andriy Sabih described the attack in a social media post on Friday morning. Absolutely horrible and sleepless night in Kiev, one of the worst so far. Hundreds of Russian drones and ballistic missiles rain down on the Ukrainian capital

and right after Putin spoke with President Trump, he does it on purpose. Enough of waiting. Putin clearly shows his complete disregard for the United States and everyone who has called for an end to the war. Ukraine's Foreign Minister. For its part, Russia claimed these were military targets it struck using high-precision long-range weapons. Well, our correspondent Paul Adams was in Kiev throughout last night's bombardment

and described to me what he witnessed. We had wave after wave of drones. We could hear them coming overhead and then occasional large explosions, presumably from the interceptions of other missiles, crews and ballistic missiles. It was a familiar story. We woke up this morning to a thick pool of black smoke which hung over parts of the city and a really acrid smell which has only really just started to dissipate. But as you've heard from

the Foreign Minister, Andrej Sebeha, there is a feeling that this once again underlines that Vladimir Putin, who spoke at length to Donald Trump yesterday, is not serious about ending this war and judging by the tone of Mr Trump's comments after that call, he appears to be losing patience with Vladimir Putin, although with Donald Trump it's always a little hard to tell. And Donald Trump has also indicated they may well be cutting anti-missile defence supplies to Ukraine. President Zelensky, we're told, hopes to speak to Donald

Trump about this on Friday. Is there anything he can say that may change the president's mind on this? Well yes, we think that that call could happen as early as today. It has not been confirmed as far as I'm aware, but certainly President Zelensky will want clarification because it is still not clear exactly what the Pentagon is doing with this pause in the supply of military equipment. We don't quite know what specific items of equipment it refers to, although there's a general belief that it does apply to Patriot missiles and other key air defense components. And we also don't know how long it's scheduled to last for. So when they do speak, that will certainly be uppermost in President Zelensky's mind

And of course he will cite the evidence of what happened overnight as proof that that Ukraine needs as much air defense As it can possibly get if it is to withstand these attacks and that in his words And he put out a statement a short time ago more pressure is needed He said there must be sanctions and other consequences targeting Russia's economy, their profits, their infrastructure. He said that is the only way to bring about real rapid change and he ended his statement by saying this depends on our partners above all the United States. Paul Adams

we heard there what's become a rather common disagreement when it comes to Ukraine Russia insisting it's attacked only military targets, the wreckage of residential apartment blocks suggesting otherwise. But Russia has also been accused of increasingly using chemical weapons in Ukraine. The Dutch and German intelligence agencies have issued a joint statement saying Moscow had deployed a wide range of chemical weapons across the country. A correspondent in The Hague, Anna Holligan, told me first

what kind of chemical weapons the new report was referring to. This is the choking agent chloropichrine. Its pungent, tear-inducing odour can cause irritation of lungs, eyes and skin, and vomiting and nausea. It can also be deadly in enclosed spaces. It was widely used during World War I and the Dutch intelligence said the chemical is being dropped from Russian drones to force Ukrainian soldiers out of the trenches so they can be shot. According to the Ukrainian defence ministry, Russia has carried out more than 9,000 of these chemical weapons attacks on Ukrainian troops since the start of the full-scale invasion in 2022.

At least three deaths, they say, have been directly attributed by Ukraine to exposure to chemical weapons. Using chemical weapons is against international law, in fact laws which date right the way back to 1925. So what do the Dutch and German authorities say should happen in response to what they allege is an infringement of this? Well exactly and Russia is a signatory to the Chemical Weapons Convention which prohibits the use of this asphyxiating substance under all circumstances. So European intelligence officials are afraid that Russia's chemical weapons use is part of a larger scale intensification of chemical weapons production and that Russian officials are issuing explicit instructions to soldiers to use this kind of toxic substance on

the battlefield. Russian chemical weapons use is truly part of a large scale program rather than some ad hoc tinkering. This is according to the head of the Dutch military intelligence. So the Dutch defence minister has called on western countries to increase pressure on Russia, including by looking at more sanctions and specifically not allowing Russia to participate in international bodies like the Executive Council of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, which is based here in The Hague. Any reaction to all these allegations from Russia? I mean, both the new ones and indeed the longstanding ones

about using chemical weapons. Well, not yet. So the US did accuse Moscow of using this chemical back in May 2024. And at the time, the Kremlin said it was a baseless allegation. It's already known that Russia uses tear gas in Ukraine. The Dutch agencies have confirmed

that the use of this much stronger chemical is an even more serious violation of the Chemical Weapons Convention. And of course, it comes alongside the news that Russia appears to be continuing to make gains on the battlefield despite these international efforts towards peace. Anna Holligan, you might expect Russia to be the most implacable foe of Afghanistan's Taliban regime. Back when it was in the old Soviet Union, Moscow's forces lost more than 15,000 troops fighting the Mujahideen, many of whom would go on to join the Taliban. And yet Russia has become the first country to give the Taliban regime official recognition.

The move's been welcomed by Russia's ally, China, but condemned by Afghan women's groups. I spoke about this with Dawood Azami from the BBC's Afghan service. I'd asked him first why Russia had taken this step. There's a bit of history, as you rightly said. Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan in the 1980s. But when the US and NATO invaded Afghanistan in 2001, so

in the first decade of the US and NATO war in Afghanistan, Russia was supporting the US side. But in the second decade of the US involvement in Afghanistan, Russia made links with the Taliban and their agenda became one, which was to expel the US and NATO forces from Afghanistan. So the relationship started around 15 years ago. But when the Taliban got power in Afghanistan in August 2021, Russia was one of those countries that did not close its embassy in Kabul. China was another one.

A number of other regional countries also kept their embassies open. So they were talking for the past almost four years. The Russian side removed the Taliban from its list of terrorist organizations in April this year and now they have recognized the Taliban government officially as the government of Afghanistan. And Russia, by the way, is the only country, the first country, which has done so. And as I mentioned, women's groups have already expressed their concerns about this what are they saying? The women groups are not happy because of the Taliban's policy. They say that it

is a reward to the Taliban. The Taliban government has banned girls from getting higher education. They have imposed restrictions on women to work in certain places. So for that reason, women rights activists and human rights activists have been campaigning around the world, asking countries not to recognize the Taliban government. And the Taliban government does not have the seat of Afghanistan at the UN. And that's why it's a symbolic gesture and important for the Taliban government. And the Taliban government hopes that it will open the door for recognition by other countries.

And what are the chances of that happening given, as you suggested, that women's groups and indeed plenty of other human rights groups are saying they don't want to see this regime given official recognition? Well, around 20 countries have their embassies in Kabul, the capital of Afghanistan at the moment, and more than 20 countries have accepted the Taliban government's diplomats in their capitals. So China in fact was the first country which accepted the Taliban government's ambassador last year, but Russia is the first country that has recognized the Taliban government. So it is expected that other countries will recognize the Taliban government

but the West especially the US has said that it is not recognizing the Taliban unless it changes its policies. Dawood Azami from the BBC's Afghan service. Donald Trump has called it a final proposal for a ceasefire in Gaza and with the president's customary insistence that matters will be sorted out quickly, Mr. Trump promised we'd know within 24 hours whether Hamas has accepted the proposal. But the Palestinian militant group itself said on Friday only that it's consulting with other factions before responding.

Our correspondent Weirah Davis is in Jerusalem. I asked him first what was in the proposed deal. We don't know exactly for sure and perhaps that's no bad thing because there haven't been too many leaks but what we have seen does suggest that it is fairly comprehensive. The key things for Hamas of course the Israelis have said to have already accepted the main proposals but the key thing for Hamas is the partial withdrawal of Israeli troops in the event of a ceasefire. And perhaps even more important than that is that after the ceasefire expires in 60 days' time, that there should be a guarantee of a long-term peace agreement, that, you

know, not a return to war as we saw after the last ceasefire broke down in March. And that's really the key thing for Hamas to be crude about it. They don't want to set free all of their bargaining chips to hostages if at the end of the day Israel is just going to return to war. So those are the kind of guarantees that Hamas will be looking for. But there is intense pressure on Hamas, on the Israeli government. I've been at a protest today in Tel Aviv actually to mark July the 4th outside the American consulate where families of the Israeli hostages are appealing over the head of Benjamin Netanyahu to Donald Trump to

make the deal but in this case make the peace deal, make the ceasefire deal. You will have seen so many peace proposals come and go either they're not agreed on or they're agreed on and then they fall apart. Without wishing to be too cynical, is there any reason for hope this time? I think there is. Both sides, Palestinians and Israelis, certainly the public have had enough. This is 21 months of war, 57,000 dead Palestinians. The Israeli military campaign has intensified in the last week or so, but also on the Israeli side, you know, many Israelis are wondering what is left in it for them. Have they achieved

as much militarily as they can? The Israeli economy has suffered during this war and also it's pretty clear that Israel's international standing has taken a bit of a battering as well. So there is impetus and pressure from both for a long term ceasefire, not just the 60 days but something that lasts much longer. You mentioned the biggest concern for Hamas is to see a permanent end to this fighting. They want to see particularly an end to the airstrikes on Gaza. What is the situation there at the moment?

We're told hundreds of Palestinians have been killed in the past week alone. Oh, absolutely. Israel has quite deliberately stepped up its military campaign across the Gaza Strip. There's been an unprecedented evacuation order for Palestinians to go to safe areas, but nowhere really is safe in Gaza, such as the UN. And hundreds of people have been killed. And even last night and into this morning, there have been more Israeli airstrikes over Gaza. We're a Davis in Jerusalem. Still to come in this podcast...

At the peak of my pumping journey with my daughter I had filled the deep freezer. I had also filled the freezer that's connected to the fridge and I had some milk in my sister's deep freezer. We hear from a Kenyan champion provider of breast milk. European provider of breast milk. It's one of the most fortified borders in the world. The no-man's land between North and South Korea has heavily armed guards on both sides, not to mention landmines. And yet a North Korean defector has managed to escape across this frontier. So how did he do it? Asia Pacific editor Celia Hatton explained to me. The South Korean

military say that they were watching for some time, they could detect some movement and they say this man was very very smart. He only moved at night. He would stay very very still during the day and then he would just ease his way very slowly across this no man's land. He had to be very, very careful because if he'd been spotted by the North Koreans, he would have been shot. He also had to avoid landmines. There's around two million mines stretched across this border, this no man's land, as you said, which is about four kilometers wide. So eventually they tracked him to a shallow stream and made contact with him and told them that they

were the South Korean military. And then they then helped guide him out of this no man's land into the safety of South Korean territory. It took about 20 hours to help him make his way through the mines and to avoid any detection by the North Koreans. How common is it for that to happen for the South Korean border guards to actually get involved in helping a North Korean escape? They help when they can because they want to try to help North Korean defectors to cross over safely. I will say that a lot of North Koreans used to cross the border into China, which was at one point really, really porous and actually not that difficult to cross. Some people would cross back and forth several times a week. That all ended with the COVID pandemic and North Korea really sealed off that border. And so anyone wanting to escape

out of North Korea now either has to do it by boat. And we've seen that happen a couple of times in the past year or by land. And that's really difficult. The last time somebody was able to do it was last August. So it's an incredibly difficult operation. The new South Korean president is supposed to want better relations with the North. I wonder if there's been any sign of that yet. Yeah, he's already stopped some loudspeaker broadcast being made across the border. So under the previous president, who was much more right wing,

there were huge loudspeakers who would send messages across into North Korea. That really angered the North Koreans. And actually, there's a theory out there that this man who crossed the border did so because the broadcast stopped and maybe he detected that tensions had gone down a little bit and he thought it would be a good time to cross. Celia Hatton, essential for the batteries powering electric vehicles, smartphones and also for renewable energy storage, lithium has become one of the world's most sought after resources and Bolivia is home to one of the world's most sought-after resources and Bolivia is home

to one of the largest known lithium reserves, found mainly beneath the beautiful and expansive Salar de Uyuni salt flats. But Bolivians are split between the economic promise of mining over disrupting this unique natural wonder. The tension was on full display during a heated debate in the Bolivian parliament on Thursday. Ella Bicknell reports. Last month, a court ruled to pause two major extraction deals with Chinese and Russian firms.

Investments worth a projected $2 billion for Bolivia. On Thursday, the Congress in La Paz was debating whether to fast-track the proposals when the session quickly descended into chaos. Shouts and screams first came from protesters in the congressional gallery. Then lawmakers began pushing, shouting and throwing water and stacks of paper at congressional leaders, even yanking umbrellas from the bench. Cameras captured the moment a House member came up behind opposition lawmaker Maria Salazar as she addressed the room, aggressively placing a hand over her mouth to stop her from speaking.

Many protesters have travelled from Potosi near the Salar de Uyuni salt flat and a huge lithium reserve. Alberto Perez-Ramos, who leads Potosi's civil committee, says the deals won't benefit local communities and risks serious environmental harm. Speaking to journalists, he said he wants conditions that mean local people near the salt flats can have a dignified life. He says they lack essential resources, water and face contamination. He added that the government is not interested and only cares about its pockets.

In 2019 protests over royalty payments in Port-au-Cis turned violent with roadblocks and explosives, unrest that contributed to the resignation of then president Evo Morales. But with global demand for lithium soaring, the controversy is far from over. Elabignol. The story now of Kenyan Chilimo Chirogi, a woman who on becoming a mother knew she was producing more breast milk than her baby needed. So with milk to spare, she joined a group of women who donated milk to close friends and family. Now Chilimo is calling for her country to create a human milk bank where women like her can donate milk to be safely

screened and shared with families in need. Sayida Swale met her and sent us this report from Nairobi. Chilly Monjerogge is closing her freezer for the last time. It's been nearly a year since she started donating breast milk. She's known to some as the liquid gold angel. Today is my last breast milk donation. I have been doing this for the last eight or so months, donating breast milk to other mums, to other families. Chelymo is what doctors call an oversupplier.

She produces far more milk than her baby needs. Her solution? Give it away. Come in. Hi, son. Hi. Welcome. Thank you. Aw, karibu karibu sana. Asante.

On this final day, she's handing over 14 litres to her friend Marianne. I saw Chalimo's TikToks of her storing milk in the freezer. I was like, oh wow. So I just reached out easily on text like, hi, hi, I need milk. That was it. The two women have been friends for years, but this act has deepened their bond. Chalimo's own breastfeeding journey wasn't always easy. It was very difficult to find a latch for my son and I had to look for breastfeeding tools, nipple shield. And that's how we started. I started my breastfeeding journey. Soon the milk kept coming. So much she filled three freezers. At the peak of my pumping journey with my daughter I had filled the

deep freezer. I had also filled the freezer that's connected to the fridge and I had some milk in my sister's deep freezer. Enough she says to feed 50 babies in a neonatal unit if she could donate it formally. I wanted to share my journey, to share my struggles that were many, struggles related to breastfeeding, and to share my joys in breastfeeding and at the same time listen to other mums that were in the same situation as me. But while Chilimo is helping families informally, Kenya only has one official human milk bank based in Nairobi's Pumwani Maternity Hospital.

It only accepts donations from mothers admitted to the hospital. Esther Mugusu is the Nairobi County Director of Nutrition. We are moving into another phase where we expand the capacity of Pumani Maternity Hospital to be a centre of excellence and we are also going to establish two more human milk banks in the city so that we can be able to support other babies beyond the hospital. Mary Matheringe has worked in lactation for more than 40 years. She says breast milk donation must be formalized, screened, tracked and regulated. Any baby can receive human milk from any human being. Anything that can be passed through

blood can also be passed through breast milk. The mother must be tested for a few things. One, HIV, then hepatitis B and hepatitis C because that can be transmitted through breast milk. Back in her kitchen, Chilimu has packed the last of her donations. She even uses some leftover milk for babies' butts, said to help soothe the skin. Good girl. This is not just a Chillymore journey. There are many mums out there that want to donate breast milk because they are of our

suppliers. But we also have many, many other mums that want to receive breast milk. They want to collect breast milk for their children. Seda Swale reporting there. Their most famous song begins with the words today's gonna be the day and Friday is the day that Oasis will appear on stage for the first time in 16 years. Brothers Liam and Noel Galher appear to have moved on from a falling out which was spectacular even by the standards of rock band Rouse. They're beginning a world tour in the Welsh capital city Cardiff and as we record this podcast plenty of fans have already gathered at the

venue. Honestly, I think I'll just be like giddy as a school kid again man. Like to be honest like it'll just transfer, it'll pull me me back 20 years instantly, right? I don't know yet, honestly. I think I will be very excited and I will be happy, but I think I will realise it when it's over. I've thought about it a lot, I don't know. I've been thinking about what are they going to play first, what's the opening song going to be, how am I going to feel, the emotions.

I've been a fan since 1994. There's been fierce competition for tickets to tonight's concert, indeed for any of the dates on the comeback tour. Our reporter Hugh Thomas has been among the crowds of lucky fans who got one. There were some people queuing to get in here. They camped out for a couple of nights. They were moved on earlier, not because they were in the way, but they've actually been given a VIP upgrade by the band,

so they can get inside not just first first but into a better area than what they had paid for. The generosity of the band there, getting rid of that reputation of being a bit tight, they are saying we are splashing out, we are helping these fans not just to get in first but to have a better night of it as well. People have been queuing up for a couple of nights, the merch sounds doing well, but also expecting tens of thousands of more people to flood into Cardiff over the coming hours. Tonight's concert, that big reunion, wondering what the dynamic will be like

between the Gallagher brothers once they are on stage. But also the impact it is having on people's nostalgia. We are seeing people queuing up here. Some people probably weren't born when the Gallagher brothers were in their prime and lots of mums and dads perhaps who remember them and are bringing the family along as well. So Cardiff is going to be bouncing tonight. The big question, what are they going to open with? What's the setlist going to be like?

Are they just going to belt out the bangers? And also, how much are people in Cardiff going to be the first to hear and to see that relationship on the stage? People wondering just what it will be like, how the rehearsals have gone, and just how big a show they can anticipate. The build-up though is unlike anything that anyone's experienced here in Cardiff. A stadium manager saying this is more more anticipation behind this gig than there was even behind Taylor Swift who performed in the city last year. All the rumours, all the talk about would they,

won't they reunite, just how much will they get along for now the tens of thousands coming to the city today hoping that they put on a great show as a result. Hugh Thomas. And that's all from us for now but there'll be a new edition of the Global News podcast later. If you want to comment on this podcast or the topics covered in it, you can send us an email. The address is globalpodcast at bbc.co.uk. You can also find us on x at BBC World Service. Use the hashtag hash global news pod.

This edition was mixed by Jack Graysmark and the producers were David Lewis and Stephen Jensen. The editor is Karen Martin. I'm Paul Moss. Until next time, goodbye.