Moscow had first advanced these accusations on Sunday during telephone conversations between Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and his American, French, British and Turkish counterparts.
“NATO Allies reject this allegation. Russia must not use this as a pretext for an escalation” of the conflict in Ukraine, NATO boss Jens Stoltenberg tweeted on Monday evening after speaking with Pentagon Chief Lloyd Austin and UK Defense Secretary Ben Wallace.
Paris, London and Washington had previously lambasted Moscow’s “false” statements together on Monday: “No one would be fooled by an attempt to use this allegation as a pretext for escalation.”
A radiological bomb or “dirty bomb” consists of conventional explosives surrounded by radioactive materials intended to be disseminated during the explosion.
Earlier Monday, General Igor Kirillov, in charge of radioactive substances, chemical and biological products in the Russian army, had repeated these accusations, saying that the manufacture of a “dirty bomb” by the Ukrainians, who would accuse then Russia for having used it, had “entered its final phase”.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Monday that “there are serious suspicions that such things could be planned”.
“Of course, we see the reaction of the Western media. It does not surprise us. It goes in the direction of reckless support for his protege Zelensky, providing him with indulgence for any Russophobic actions, not only in words, but in the bombardment of civilian targets, of civilian populations”, added the head of Russian diplomacy during a press conference in Moscow.
“We will solve the problem of the dirty bomb until the end. We have every interest in preventing such a terrible provocation”, he still asserted.
Russian Army Chief of Staff Valery Gerasimov also spoke on Monday with his American counterparts, General Mark Milley, and British, Admiral Tony Radakin, about the “dirty bomb”, according to the Russian Defense Ministry. The British Ministry of Defense indicated that Tony Radakin “dismissed the Russian allegations”.
Ukrainian President Volodymr Zelensky once again mocked Moscow’s “various nonsense about Ukraine” in his daily address on Monday evening: “Ukraine is breaking up the so-called second army in the world, and now Russia will only beg.”
– The IAEA will come on site –
Dmytro Kouleba asked the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to “urgently send experts” to the two structures where Russia “misleadingly claims” that Ukraine is developing a “dirty bomb”.
The head of the IAEA, Rafael Grossi, confirmed a visit “in the coming days” in a press release Monday evening, specifying that one of the two places had been inspected “a month ago” and that “no nuclear activity undeclared had been found there”.
Ukrainians and Westerners alike see it as a threat of preparations for a false flag attack, suspecting Russia of being prepared to detonate a “dirty bomb” itself to justify military escalation, for example by employing a tactical nuclear weapon in retaliation.
“There is a recurring pattern in this conflict (…) The Russians have accused the Ukrainians and other countries of what they were planning themselves. This is what worries us”, reacted the carrier. word of the US State Department Ned Price.
Nevertheless, “we saw no reason to change our nuclear posture” and “no indication that the Russians were preparing the deployment of a nuclear weapon”, he specified.
At the start of its offensive, Moscow had already accused Ukraine of preparing bacteriological weapons in secret laboratories financed by the United States, allegations denied by kyiv.
The ‘dirty bomb’ allegations come as Russian forces are struggling on multiple fronts in Ukraine, having lost thousands of square kilometers in the northeast in September and now retreating in the southern Kherson region, where the Russian occupation authorities organize evacuations of the population.
The Ukrainian command announced on Monday that it had taken over 90 localities in total in the Kherson region, one of the four territories of Ukraine which Moscow claimed for annexation in September, and four villages in the regions of Donetsk and Lugansk (east) .
– Drones and electricity –
Moscow has carried out several series of massive strikes in recent weeks, including with Iranian-made suicide drones, against Ukrainian critical infrastructure.
The Ukrainian president assured Monday that Russia had ordered “about 2,000 Iranian Shahed drones” to support its bombing campaign in Ukraine. He criticized the neutrality observed by Israel since the invasion of his country by Russia, which according to him allowed an “alliance” between Moscow and Tehran and the delivery of Iranian drones to the Russian army.
“We have not provided Russia with any weapons or drones to use in the war against Ukraine,” Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian reiterated on Monday, repeating previous denials. “If it became clear to us that Russia used Iranian drones against Ukraine, we will certainly not be indifferent to this issue.”
Russian bombings caused further power cuts across Ukraine on Sunday, prompting restrictions and calls for rationing.
More than a million Ukrainian homes have been without electricity following Russian attacks on electricity infrastructure, the Ukrainian presidency said on Saturday. Rotating power cuts took place on Monday in different districts of kyiv.
Russia, for its part, denounces a “considerable increase” in Ukrainian fire targeting its border regions, in particular those of Belgorod and Kursk where defense lines are being built in the event of an attack.
