UN Security Council to hold emergency meeting on Russia's request

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The UN Security Council (UNSC) will hold an emergency meeting on Friday on the request of the Russian government after Moscow claimed that the US is funding the development of biological weapons in Ukrainian laboratories.

The meeting comes after Dmitry Polyansky, Russia's deputy ambassador to the UN, requested the world body to convene the emergency meeting to "discuss the military biological activities of the US on the territory of Ukraine".

Russia has claimed that "recently found documents" showed components of biological weapons were made in Ukrainian laboratories with funding from the US Department of Defense.

In its latest allegation on Thursday, the Russian Defence Ministry said the US was helping Ukraine to develop biological weapons and use virus-carrying birds that migrate through Russia, the BBC reported.

The Ministry, however did not provide any evidence to support the claim.

Russia has also said that more than 30 laboratories in Lviv, Kharkiv and Poltava were working with dangerous infectious agents as part of a US-led military biological programme.

Meanwhile, the US dismissed the allegations "preposterous", with White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki saying in a tweet on Wednesday that it is the "kind of disinformation operation we've seen repeatedly from the Russians over the years in Ukraine and in other countries, which have been debunked".

She said "we should all be on the lookout for Russia to possibly use chemical or biological weapons in Ukraine, or to create a false flag operation using them. It's a clear pattern".

While testifying to the US Senate Intelligence Committee earlier on Thursday, CIA Director William Burns described Russia's accusations as "false flag efforts in the creation of false narratives".

In his latest video address on Friday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said that "no chemical or any other weapons of mass destruction were developed" in his country.

"I am the President of an adequate country, an adequate nation. And the father of two children. And no chemical or any other weapons of mass destruction were developed on my land.

"The whole world knows that. You know that. And if Russia do something like that against us, it will get the most severe sanctions response," he said.

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