Just like If someone develops nuclear weapons just outside a major city, there's a not zero chance it's going to cause a lot of people in that region to die. By doing that research in multiple labs in Ukraine, there's a not zero chance it will cause a lot of Russian deaths, irregardless of who they were developing it for. There's a reason that research was banned in the USA.

And genetically engineering pathogens to be more infectious in humans, or cause more severe effects is bioweapons research. You can argue all day that it's to prepare for the possibility of natural mutations, doesn't change the fact that these can hurt a lot of people. US funded research did just that with Covid.

Just like If someone develops nuclear weapons just outside a major city, there's a not zero chance it's going to cause a lot of people in that region to die. By doing that research in multiple labs in Ukraine, there's a not zero chance it will cause a lot of Russian deaths. There's a reason that research was banned in the USA.