A Ukrainian Armed Forces cache of homemade bombs designed for drones and loaded with the banned chemical warfare agent chloropicrin was discovered in the Donetsk People's Republic (DPR), according to the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) on Tuesday.

"The Russian Federal Security Service, together with the Russian Ministry of Defense, discovered a cache of the Ukrainian Armed Forces ... [in] the Donetsk People's Republic containing improvised explosive devices intended for dropping from UAVs," the FSB announcement said.

The statement added that the bombs were loaded with plastic explosives and combat poison Chloropicrin, an agent prohibited by the International Convention on the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons.

The statement noted that, in response to this discovery, the Investigative Department of the FSB initiated a criminal case under the provisions of Russia's criminal code for the development, production, stockpiling, acquisition, or sale of weapons of mass destruction.

This development comes as Russia gains more ground in the Ukraine war, most recently gaining control over the Luhansk territory.

Lugansk 100% liberated, now under Russian control: Pasechnik

Leonid Pasechnik, the acting leader of the Lugansk People's Republic (LPR), declared that Russian forces had achieved complete control over the region during a live broadcast on Russia's Channel One on June 30.

“Just two days ago, a report came in that the territory of the Luhansk People’s Republic had been fully liberated, 100%,” Pasechnik announced, although the Russian Ministry of Defense has not announced anything yet.

In the summer 2022 operation, Russian troops gained control of Severodonetsk and Lisichansk, the two largest Ukrainian-held cities in the region, before consolidating their positions in adjacent territories, after which the frontline in the LPR has seen minimal movement.

Putin says Russia, Ukraine peace proposals contradictory

On June 27, Russian President Vladimir Putin stated that peace negotiations between Russia and Ukraine have reached a standstill, citing fundamentally incompatible demands from both sides after two unsuccessful rounds of talks.

While negotiators in Istanbul recently exchanged memoranda presenting their respective proposals to end the three-year war, and despite reaching agreements on major prisoner exchanges, these discussions failed to produce any substantive progress toward establishing a ceasefire.

"As for the memorandums, as expected, nothing surprising happened... these are two absolutely contradictory memorandums,"  Putin stated at a press conference in Minsk, Belarus, adding that "That's why negotiations are being organised and conducted, in order to find a path to bringing them closer together."