"The available documents confirm numerous cases of the transfer of biological samples of Ukrainian citizens abroad. With a high degree of probability, we can say that one of the tasks of the United States and its allies is the creation of bioagents that can selectively affect various ethnic groups of the population," said Igor Kirillov, the head of the Nuclear, Biological, and Chemical Protection Troops of the Russian Armed Forces, Sputnik reported.

Kirillov added that 350 cryocontainers with blood serum samples were transferred from the Public Health Centre of the Ministry of Health of Ukraine to a reference laboratory for infectious diseases at Australia's Doherty Institute under the pretext of determining antibody titers.

The Russian Defence Ministry has obtained documents confirming that the high-risk biological research in Ukraine is led by US specialists. According to Kirillov, the documents also showed that the US Defence Department funded the biological research in Ukraine.

He also stated that Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs Victoria Nuland "indirectly" confirmed American participation in the Ukrainian biological research when she noted that Washington was concerned about the Ukrainian biolabs being taken over by the Russians.

The biological research funded by the US in Ukraine, according to Kirillov, included the projects "UP-2, UP-9, UP-10, aimed at studying the pathogens of anthrax and African swine fever". The UP-4 project, in particular, is said to have been in development in laboratories in Kiev, Kharkov, and Odessa, and was scheduled until 2020.

Per Kirillov, the Pentagon was also interested in insect vectors that can spread dangerous infectious diseases.

"The analysis of the received materials confirms the fact that more than 140 containers with ectoparasites of bats - fleas and ticks - were transferred from the biological laboratory in Kharkov abroad," he elaborated.

Most of the documentation related to the research has already been evacuated from Ukraine by the Americans, Kirillov noted.

"According to the available information, the Americans have already managed to evacuate most of the documentation from the laboratories in Kiev, Kharkov, and Odessa, including databases, biomaterials, and equipment to the Lvov Research Institute of Epidemiology and Hygiene and to the American Consulate in Lvov. It is possible that part of the collection will be moved to Poland," he said.

Additionally, biological laboratories in Ukraine and Georgia are working on a project involving bats as carriers of bioweapons, Kirillov added.

Similar concerns were earlier voiced by Major General Igor Konashenkov, the Spokesman of the Russian Defence Ministry. He stated that the US-funded biological labs in Ukraine were conducting experiments with bat coronavirus samples and studying the possible spread of pathogens via wild birds, migrating between Russia, Ukraine, and other countries in the region.

White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki has denied that the United States is engaged in the development of biological and chemical weapons in Ukraine.

"This is preposterous. It's the kind of disinformation operation we've seen repeatedly from the Russians over the years in Ukraine and in other countries, which have been debunked, and an example of the types of false pretexts we have been warning the Russians would invent," she noted.

According to Psaki, Washington is in "full compliance" with its obligations under the Chemical Weapons Convention and the Biological Weapons Convention and has no plans to develop or possess such weapons anywhere.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Thursday following talks with Ukrainian and Turkish top diplomats, Dmitry Kuleba and Mevlut Cavusoglu, Moscow will demand an explanation of the US biological activity in Ukraine, TASS reported.

"We are very concerned over the data that the Pentagon has set up several dozen military biological laboratories in Ukraine as part of its program <…> violating the relevant convention that prohibits biological and toxin weapons. We have sent an official request on how this can be explained. And we will demand an answer," the top diplomat noted.

At the same time, Lavrov pointed out that the experiments were not peaceful and were aimed at creating "ethnically oriented" biological weapons

"I have no data confirming that they have already used their weapons, however, I have no doubt regarding the fact that these were absolutely not peaceful experiments, they were aimed at creating biological weapons, which were, so to speak, ethnically oriented," Lavrov added.