Ukrainian forces have started using munitions filled with phosphorus near Gostomel Airport outside Kiev, the Russian Defence Ministry said.
"Desperate to deter the Russian offensive, Ukraine's army has been massively using phosphorus munitions in areas close to Kiev and near Gostomel Airport. They are using 122 mm D30 howitzers and rockets for BM-21 "Grad" systems made in the Soviet Union," official spokesman for the MoD, Igor Konashenkov, said.
The use of these munitions is banned under the third protocol of the UN Convention on Prohibitions or Restrictions on the Use of Incendiary Weapons adopted in 1980, he added.
The Head of the Russian Investigative Committee, Alexander Bastrykin, has ordered to investigate the facts of the use of banned munitions by Ukrainian forces.
Mr Konashenko'v daily briefing about Russia's special operation in Ukraine came on the heels of the announcement that Ukraine's delegation was heading to Gomel in Belarus for the negotiations with Russia.
On 24 February, Russian President Putin announced the start of a special military operation in Ukraine aimed at "demilitarising and denazifying" the country following a years-long deadlock in talks on the implementation of the Minsk Agreements and continued Ukraine army's shelling of its breakaway republics of Donetsk and Lugansk (DPR and LPR). On 21 February, the republics were recognised by Russia as sovereign nations.