Lt. Gen. Igor Kirillov, commander of the Russian Armed Forces' Nuclear, Biological and Chemical Protection Troops, made this claim during an address televised by the Russian state-owned media as he also accused Ukraine of targeting the Nova Kakhovka dam and flooding the entire region. (Related: Thousands of people forced to evacuate following destruction of Nova Kakhovka dam in southern Ukraine.)
"The flooding of Kherson Oblast [region] planned by the Kyiv regime can complicate the situation, including with regard to arbovirus infections," said Kirillov.
"After a drop in the water level, it is possible to form foci of diseases transmitted by mosquitoes, primarily West Nile fever," he continued. "The high technical level of U.S. preparedness for the use of infected vectors is evidenced by a patent for a drone designed to spread infected mosquitoes in the air."
The general then claimed that these drones will be deployed to Kherson region and to other parts of the front line of Russia's special military operation in Ukraine to degrade the health of Russian forces.
"In accordance with the description, the drone must deliver a container with insects to a given area and release them," said Kirillov. "The description of the patent emphasizes that the infected soldier is not able to perform the combat missions assigned to him."
US accused of studying insect-borne diseases for military use
In the same address, Kirillov noted that the U.S. is actively conducting research on insect-borne diseases that are not native to North America. These diseases include Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever, tick-borne encephalitis and Japanese encephalitis.
Kirillov added that American research organizations and the Department of Defense have already published more than 100 studies in open sources about key species of mosquitoes and ticks that can transmit epidemic diseases such as Rift Valley fever, West Nile fever, dengue fever and Zika fever.
The general even pointed out how official reports from the World Health Organization noted that the largest outbreak of yellow fever in Africa in 2013, which caused more than 170,000 cases of severe fever and over 60,000 deaths, was precipitated by a dramatic increase in the mosquito populations of the affected regions.
Coincidentally, Ukrainian officials in Kherson and Mykolaiv Oblasts in southern Ukraine are preparing for the potential outbreak of waterborne diseases, including cholera, typhoid and leptospirosis nearly two weeks after Nova Kakhovka dam's destruction led to massive flooding.
"Currently, trucks carrying essential medical supplies for infectious diseases such as cholera are being unloaded," said Oleksandr Chebotarov, medical director for the Kherson City Clinical Hospital. "As of today, we have not had any reported cases of illness, but we are actively preparing."
Concerns about a potential outbreak of cholera or any other waterborne disease has also spread among Russian troops on the frontline in southern Ukraine. Atesh, a partisan movement working in the territories occupied by Russia and internationally recognized as Ukraine, reported that its "informants" within military hospitals in the region are concerned about the quality of the water.
The group noted that Russian troops are resorting to drinking water "from open sources" amid difficulties with the delivery of safe drinking water. Several Russian soldiers have reportedly died of cholera, although this report hasn't been verified by international sources.
Learn more about the use of biological weapons and other biowarfare incidents, especially in Ukraine, at BiologicalWarfare.com.
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