Russia warns Ukraine could use ‘dirty bomb’; US slams ‘transparently false allegations’

Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu during calls with Western defense chiefs on Sunday warned that Ukraine is preparing to use a radioactive “dirty bomb” in an alleged “provocation” amid the ongoing war.

American officials said the claims were “transparently false” and possibly a pretext for Russia to launch the type of attack it was supposedly worried about.

Shoigu reportedly made the claims in calls to his counterparts in the United States, the United Kingdom, France and Turkey.

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin in the Sunday call “rejected any pretext for Russian escalation and reaffirmed the value of continued communication amid Russia’s unlawful and unjustified war against Ukraine,” according to a readout from the Pentagon. 

Secretary of State Antony Blinken also spoke Sunday with Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba, rejecting Shoigu’s “transparently false allegations” and expressing confidence that “the world would see through any attempt by Russia to use this allegation as a pretext for escalation,” according to a readout of the call.

A readout of Shoigu’s call with British Defense Secretary Ben Wallace notes that the Russian minister “alleged that Ukraine was planning actions facilitated by Western countries, including the UK, to escalate the conflict in Ukraine.” 

Wallace, like Austin, reportedly refuted the allegations and warned that Russia shouldn’t use the allegations as “pretext for greater escalation.” 

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Sunday accused Shoigu of conducting a “phone carousel” to spread the allegations.  

“Where Ukraine is, life is never destroyed. But wherever Russia comes, it leaves behind mass graves, torture chambers, destroyed cities and villages, mined land, destroyed infrastructure and natural disasters,” Zelensky said in a daily address. 

“So when today the Russian Minister of Defense organizes a phone carousel and calls foreign ministers with stories about the so-called ‘dirty’ nuclear bomb, everyone understands everything well. [Everyone] understands who is the source of everything dirty that can be imagined in this war.” 

Zelensky said the Russia allegation “means one thing: Russia has already prepared all this.” 

Russia’s warning of dirty bombs is only the latest remarks from Moscow to draw warnings of a “false flag” operation.

Russia has also said that Ukraine is manufacturing biological weapons with U.S. support, a claim that drew warnings from the U.S. that Russia might use such weapons in the war.

And over the past week, Ukrainian officials and experts studying the war have warned that Russia’s claims that Ukraine might destroy a key dam on the Dnieper River near Kherson indicates Moscow is preparing to blow up the bridge.