The United States has hit back at Russian claims after Moscow said it has evidence of a Ukrainian network of 30 biological laboratories which were supported by America in a suspected military programme.

The Biden administration accused Russia of using the UN Security Council to promote disinformation.

The Russian envoy to the UN said the alleged labs carried out “very dangerous” experiments involving plague, anthrax, cholera and other lethal pathogens using synthetic biology – with the work being backed and funded by the US.

He claimed there were 30 laboratories in which work on biological weapons was being conducted.

Vasily Nebenzya said the alleged programmes looked at spreading diseases through using birds – H5N1 or avian flu – and bats.

Ukraine is trying to destroy evidence of the biological experiments, he claimed.

Mr Nebenzya said that in Lviv, more than 230 containers with leptospirosis agents were destroyed, 30 with tularemia, also known as “rabbit fever”, 10 with brucellosis and five with plague.

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He said the “excessive number” of bio pathogens “leads us to believe that these were conducted within a framework of a military biological programme”.

The US has denied the baseless Moscow allegations that they were carrying out “military biological activities” in Ukraine as the invasion by Vladimir Putin’s forces continues.

“I will say this once… Ukraine does not have a biological weapons programme,” US ambassador to the United Nations, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, said.

“It is Russia who is the aggressor here”.

“We’re not going to let Russia get away with lying to the world… by using this forum” to spread lies, she added.

The Biden administration and Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy have rejected Russian accusations that Ukraine is running chemical and biological labs with US support.

“This is exactly the kind of false flag effort we have warned Russia might initiate to justify a biological or chemical weapons attack,” said Olivia Dalton, spokesperson for the US Mission to the United Nations.

The US has called the accusations “preposterous” and “laughable” and suggested Moscow may be laying the groundwork to use a chemical or biological weapon.

“We’re not going to let Russia gaslight the world or use the UN Security Council as a venue for promoting their disinformation,” Dalton said.

Western officials have now said Russia might use chemical weapons in Ukraine in a “false flag” attack to provide a retrospective justification for its offensive, but there is nothing to suggest a broader use of such weapons in the war.

Moscow has claimed that its invading forces had found evidence of hasty attempts to conceal biological weapons research in Ukraine.

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