US dismisses Russia’s claim Ukraine will use ‘dirty bomb’Ukraine and the US have denounced suggestions from Russia that Ukraine is preparing to use a “dirty bomb” as dangerous lies.
Russian defence minister Sergei Shoigu made the allegation about a dirty bomb in a round of telephone conversations with western defence chiefs.
In those calls, Shoigu conveyed “concerns about possible provocations by Ukraine with the use of a ‘dirty bomb,’” the Russian defence ministry said.
Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy on Sunday sharply dismissed the claim that Kyiv was preparing to use a dirty bomb.
If Russia calls and says that Ukraine is allegedly preparing something, it means one thing: Russia has already prepared all this,” Zelenskiy said in a video address.
I spoke with Ukrainian Foreign Minister @DmytroKuleba today to discuss the United States’ continued support for Ukraine and to reject Russia’s false allegations that Ukraine is preparing to use a dirty bomb on its own territory.
— Secretary Antony Blinken (@SecBlinken) October 23, 2022 US secretary of state Anthony Blinken rejected Shoigu’s “transparently false” allegations that Ukraine is preparing to use a dirty bomb on its own territory and that the world would “see through any attempt by Russia to use this allegation as a pretext for escalation” in a statement issued by the White House.
A statement from US national security council spokeswoman, Adrienne Watson said, “We reject reports of minister Shoigu’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.”
A so-called dirty bomb is designed to contaminate a wide area with radioactive material, making it dangerous for civilians. It does not involve a nuclear explosion.