The Ukrainian armed forces have used toxic and poisonous substances against Russian soldiers located in the village of Vasylivka in Zaporozhye, the Russian Ministry of Defense said on Saturday.

"Amid military defeats in Donbas and other regions, Zelensky's regime has authorized terrorist acts with the use of chemical agents against Russian servicemen and civilians," the ministry said.

"On July 31... Russian servicemen performing tasks in the area of ​​the village of Vasylivka, Zaporozhye region, were taken to a military hospital with symptoms of severe poisoning," Moscow added.

An examination revealed that Botulinum toxin type B, a toxic substance, was found in the body of the military personnel serving there, the ministry told reporters.

The defense ministry then went on to reveal that Moscow had evidence of Kiev committing chemical terrorism.

"Russia is currently preparing the documentary evidence of the chemical terrorism activities sanctioned by the Kiev regime, including the results of all conducted lab tests," the ministry said in a statement. 

The evidence will be officially sent to the OPCW via the permanent Russian delegation, Moscow added.

The region of Zaporozhye has seen an escalation in Ukrainian offensives, with Ukrainian troops firing at the territory of the Zaporozhye nuclear power plant earlier in the month, where a fire broke out immediately. 

The Russian Defense Ministry is considering the shelling of the Zaporozhye power plant by Ukrainian forces an act of nuclear terrorism under a UN convention adopted by a resolution of the UNGA, according to the head of the Russian National Defense Control Center, Colonel General Mikhail Mizintsev. 

The official said that if an accident were to happen, which the shelling could potentially cause, the effects would surpass the scale of Chernobyl and Fukushima - the entire territories of Ukraine, Donetsk, Lugansk, Russia, Belarus, Moldova, Bulgaria, and Romania would be contaminated by nuclear waste.

According to the Russian Defense Ministry, the Ukrainian army sabotaged a high-voltage power line that provides electricity to nearby regions, which sparked a "power surge" at the station, causing smoke in a switchgear used to protect electrical equipment. 

Russia has rejected previous claims that it uses the Zaporozhye nuclear power plant as a military base, per US Secretary of State Antony Blinken's claim.

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said Friday it was actively consulting with all parties on sending a mission to the Zaporozhye nuclear power plant as soon as possible.

The agency underlined that taking the seriousness of the situation into perspective, IAEA director general Rafael Grossi had reiterated the need to send a mission to carry out basic measures to ensure physical and nuclear security and safeguards at the facility. 

A trip by an IAEA delegation to the Zaporozhye NPP through Kiev and then across the contact line will be very dangerous, asserted Igor Vishnevetsky, the Deputy Director of the Department for Non-Proliferation and Arms Control at the Russian Foreign Ministry on Monday.

On July 12, two Ukrainian drones attacked a building close to the Zaporozhye NPP, according to a spokesperson for the military-civilian administration in Enerhodar.

The military-civilian administration at Nova Kakhovka said the Ukrainian strike carried out on the city was executed using multiple rocket launchers HIMARS (High Mobility Artillery Rocket System) supplied by the United States.

Such incidents have triggered fears of a possible nuclear catastrophe and were the subject of an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council last Thursday.