Ukraine has begun its work at the 113th Session of the Executive Council of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), held in The Hague from 6 to 9 October 2026. Ukraine takes part in the session as a member of the Executive Council, to which it was elected for the 2026–2028 term.

This is the first regular session of the Organisation's governing body under the new Director-General, Ambassador Sabrina Dallafior. The Ukrainian delegation congratulated her and Deputy Director-General Mekondjo Kaapanda-Girnus on assuming their responsibilities.

During the general debate, Ambassador of Ukraine to the Kingdom of the Netherlands and Permanent Representative to the OPCW Andrii Kostin delivered Ukraine's national statement, drawing the attention of States Parties to Russia's systematic use of toxic chemicals as a method of warfare against Ukraine.

As at 23 September 2026, the competent authorities of Ukraine had documented 14,009 incidents in which Russian forces used munitions containing toxic chemicals. This is no longer a matter of allegation: in three Technical Assistance Visits conducted at Ukraine's request, laboratories designated by the OPCW confirmed the presence of CS in the samples collected — a riot control agent whose use as a method of warfare is prohibited outright by paragraph 5 of Article I of the Convention.

“The time has come for this Organisation to move from establishing the facts to attributing responsibility for these established breaches of the Convention. Those who ordered and those who carried out the use of toxic chemicals as a method of warfare must be identified and held accountable. Continued impunity represents a grave threat to the object and purpose of the Convention, and without attribution and accountability the global prohibition of chemical weapons will inevitably be weakened,” Ambassador Andrii Kostin said.

Ukraine, for its part, is fulfilling its own obligations under the Convention: the competent authorities are conducting a national investigation in cooperation with the Technical Secretariat and in accordance with internationally recognised standards.

Ukraine expressed its sincere appreciation to the Director-General and the Technical Secretariat for the assistance provided under Article X of the Convention, which has measurably strengthened our national capacities in wartime, and for the expert support to the national investigation, as well as to the States Parties whose voluntary contributions make such assistance possible.

Russia's systematic violations of the UN Charter and of the Convention have already had consequences for its standing within the Organisation: for the third consecutive year it has failed to secure election to the Executive Council.

The Ambassador underlined that there can be no selective implementation of the Convention, and no tolerance for the gradual normalisation of toxic chemicals as a method of warfare. The credibility of the Chemical Weapons Convention is being tested today in Ukraine, and it will be measured not by what is said, but by what follows a violation proven against Russia.

The same logic runs through the new Director-General's first statement to the Executive Council. Ambassador Sabrina Dallafior confirmed that laboratories designated by the Organisation had found CS, a riot control agent, in samples collected along the confrontation lines, and that the Secretariat is providing expert support to Ukraine's national investigation at Ukraine's request. Concluding her statement, she said: “We must remember the victims of chemical weapons use in everything that we do and ensure, together, that those responsible are held to account”.