“Putin’s criminal war is approaching our borders,” the Polish Foreign Minister Radosław Sikorski has emotionally declared after the strike on Barlinek. On 16 July, a Russian drone attack on Ukraine damaged the Polish company Barlinek in the city of Vinnytsia.

As a result of the strike, two employees were hospitalized in serious condition, suffering from numerous burns. 

“Russian drones struck the Barlinek group’s factory in Vinnytsia. The factory director just told me this was done deliberately from three directions. There are wounded, two of them with severe burns,” Sikorski wrote on X.

Barlinek is a global manufacturer of wooden flooring, supplying products to 75 countries across 6 continents. The company also produces sports flooring, skirting boards, and biofuel pellets and briquettes for fireplaces. The Vinnytsia factory was opened in 2007.

Ukrainian emergency services and representatives of the Polish consulate were working on the attack site.

The Polish Foreign Ministry has informed a Russian diplomat that the products of the Polish company Barlinek in Ukraine serve civilian purposes. Therefore, Russia’s strike on the company’s factory in Vinnytsia violates international law and may have legal consequences in the future, UkrInform reports.

Paweł Wroński, the Polish Foreign Ministry’s spokesperson, says that the bombing of the Barlinek factory could be connected to the meeting of the Ukrainian, Polish, and Lithuanian foreign ministers of the Lublin Triangle in Lublin.

Ukraine, Poland, and Lithuania form new alliance to counter Putin’s weaponized historic narratives amid war of attrition

The main objective of these annual meetings, established in 2020, is to strengthen mutual military and cultural ties between the three countries and to support Ukraine’s integration into the EU and NATO.

Barlinek’s CEO, Wojciech Michałowski, reports that the attack severely damaged the factory. Production at the facility will be suspended for at least six months.

On 4 July, Dutch and German intelligence agencies have confirmed that Russia is using banned chemical weapons in Ukraine on a large scale, with drones dropping choking agents on Ukrainian positions. The revelations, based on joint investigations, show what officials describe as a systematic and intensifying pattern of illegal chemical warfare.

Intelligence agencies confirm large-scale Russian chemical weapons program

Reuters says Dutch and German officials jointly reported that Russia is operating a coordinated program to produce and deploy banned chemical weapons in Ukraine. The Dutch Military Intelligence and Security Service (MIVD) and Germany’s BND foreign intelligence agency confirmed gathering evidence of these violations, including Russia’s use of drones to drop choking agents—such as chloropicrin—on Ukrainian trenches to force soldiers into open fire.

According to Dutch Defense Minister Ruben Brekelmans, “we can confirm Russia is intensifying its use of chemical weapons.” He added that this trend is not isolated but part of a normalization of chemical warfare tactics by Russian forces.

Thousands of chemical-related incidents and battlefield injuries

The head of the Dutch MIVD, Peter Reesink, said his agency’s conclusions were based on independent investigations.

At least three Ukrainian deaths have been tied to chemical attacks, according to Brekelmans, and more than 2,500 people have reported symptoms related to chemical exposure on the battlefield, Ukrainian health authorities report.

The United States had first accused Russia of using chloropicrin in May 2024. The compound, originally used by Germany in World War One, is more toxic than riot control agents and is banned under the Chemical Weapons Convention.

According to Reesink, Russia’s chemical weapons use is no longer a matter of improvisation:

“This isn’t just some ad-hoc tinkering at the frontline; it is truly part of a large-scale program.”

Calls for sanctions and exclusion from international bodies

Brekelmans called for increased sanctions and political pressure:

“We must further increase the pressure. This means looking at more sanctions and specifically not allowing them (Russia) to participate in international bodies like the Executive Council of the OPCW.”

The European Commission is considering adding 15 more individuals and entities to its sanctions list for suspected involvement in chemical weapons use in Ukraine.