Putin filmed with a 'mark' on his hand as he talks with solider
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Britain, the United States and France have jointly rejected Moscow’s contentions – with Volodymyr Zelensky angrily accusing the Kremlin of nuclear blackmail and a ‘false flag’ ploy. The Ukrainian President said Russia’s mention of a dirty bomb – where conventional explosives are laced with radioactive material – meant Putin could well be preparing such an illegal attack.
Such ‘false flag’ tactics have been used by the Russian president in the past – and Mr Zelensky said: “If Russia calls and says that Ukraine is allegedly preparing something, it means one thing – Russia has already prepared all this.”
Moscow defence minister Sergei Shoigu first made the dirty bomb remarks in a call with the UK’s Defence Secretary Ben Wallace on Sunday.
He claimed he was “concerned about possible provocations by Kyiv involving the use” of such a weapon.
Mr Shoigu also then repeated the same claims in a flurry of phone calls with other defence ministers, including the US, France and Turkey, voicing Moscow’s alleged alarm. But he provided no evidence to back up his accusations.
America, as Mr Wallace had done, added that it further “rejected any pretext for Russian escalation”.
And Mr Zelensky accused Russia of being “the source of everything dirty that can be imagined in this war”.
He insisted Russia was threatening the world “with a radiation disaster” at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant, which it had captured, and also spoke of Moscow’s threats to detonate a major dam in southern Ukraine.
The Ukrainian leader has also repeatedly warned of Putin’s willingness to use nuclear weapons, though the Kremlin has denied the allegations.
And in a carefully orchestrated response, the West once again swung behind Ukraine yesterday.
A joint statement from the foreign ministers of France, the UK and the US said their governments “all reject Russia’s transparently false allegations that Ukraine is preparing to use a dirty bomb on its own territory”.
They stressed they would continue supporting Ukraine in “the face of President Putin’s brutal war of aggression”.
A further statement from Adrienne Watson, from the US National Security Council, 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 UK Ministry of Defence said Mr Wallace “refuted these claims and cautioned that such allegations should not be used as a pretext for greater escalation”.
Military analysts have pointed out that the latest Russian claims come after a string of heavy Russian military defeats and as Ukrainian troops continue their counter-offensive operations in the east and south of the country.
The US-based Institute for the Study of War said in a series of tweets that Mr Shoigu “likely sought to slow or suspend Western military aid to Ukraine and possibly weaken the Nato alliance in scare-mongering calls”.
Bu the think tank added: “The Kremlin is unlikely to be preparing an imminent false-flag dirty bomb attack. Shoigu’s claims further a long-standing Russian information campaign.”
On the ground, fierce fighting continued yesterday with Russia firing missiles and drones into the Ukrainian-held southern town of Mykolaiv, destroying an apartment block.
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