Ukraine invites nuclear experts to disprove Russia’s ‘dirty bomb’ claim

Ukraine has asked international experts to visit the country to disprove Moscow’s claim that it is planning to explode a so-called dirty bomb, as western powers said the Kremlin may be seeking a pretext to further escalate Russia’s war against its neighbour.

As Ukraine’s troops continued to liberate parts of its southern Kherson region, the Russian defence ministry accused Kyiv’s forces of plotting to blow up a conventional weapon laced with radioactive material and to blame it on Moscow to discredit the Kremlin.

“The detonation of a radiological explosive device would inevitably lead to radioactive contamination of an area of up to several thousand square metres,” said Igor Kirillov, head of the Russian military’s radiation, chemical and biological defence forces.

“The defence ministry has organised work to counter possible provocations from Ukraine: the forces and means required to perform tasks in conditions of radioactive contamination have been made ready.”

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After Russian defence minister Sergei Shoigu spoke by phone to his counterparts from the US, France and Britain about the supposed dirty bomb threat posed by Kyiv, the three Nato states bluntly rejected his claims.

“Our countries made clear that we all reject Russia’s transparently false allegations that Ukraine is preparing to use a dirty bomb on its own territory. The world would see through any attempt to use this allegation as a pretext for escalation. We further reject any pretext for escalation by Russia,” they said in a joint statement by their foreign ministers.

“We remain committed to continue supporting Ukraine’s efforts to defend its territory for as long as it takes … with security, economic, and humanitarian assistance in the face of President [Vladimir] Putin’s brutal war of aggression.”

Ukrainian foreign minister Dmytro Kuleba said he had asked the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) “to urgently send experts to peaceful facilities in Ukraine which Russia deceitfully claims to be developing a dirty bomb. He agreed. Unlike Russia, Ukraine has always been and remains transparent. We have nothing to hide”.

A small IAEA inspection team is based at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power station in southeastern Ukraine, where Ukrainian technicians run the plant overseen by Russian troops, and Moscow and Kyiv blame each other for shelling that has damaged power lines and radiation sensors and fuelled fears of a radiation leak.

Ukraine and Russia also accuse the other’s military of mining and threatening to blow up the Kakhovka dam on the Dnieper river in Kherson region, which Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy says would release 18 million cubic metres of water and flood scores of settlements, including parts of Russian-occupied Kherson city.

“If Russia calls and says Ukraine is allegedly planning something, it means one thing: Russia has already prepared all this,” Mr Zelenskiy warned. “Even the very Russian threat of nuclear weapons … is a reason for both sanctions and for even greater strengthening of support for Ukraine.”

Planned blackouts continued in Ukrainian cities on Monday after days of Russian missile and drone strikes on its power stations, but Kyiv’s military said it was still moving forward in Kherson, where occupation officials have ordered civilians to evacuate to the eastern bank of the Dnieper to allow Moscow’s troops to prepare to fight for the area.

“They are preparing the ground so they can leave very quickly if necessary. But they are not preparing to leave now, they are preparing to fight,” Kyrylo Budanov, the head of Ukraine’s military intelligence agency, said of Russia’s forces in Kherson.