Russia May Use ‘Dirty Bomb’ Pretext to Escalate Ukraine War, Western Countries Warn

As Moscow evacuated civilians from a southern city in preparation for a major battle, the West accused Russia of planning to use the threat of a bomb laced with nuclear material as a pretext for escalation in Ukraine.

Sergei Shoigu, the Russian defense minister, called his Western counterparts on Sunday to inform them that Moscow believed Kiev was preparing to use a so-called "dirty bomb" as Ukrainian forces advanced into the Russian-occupied province of Kherson.

The foreign ministers of France, Britain, and the United States said in a joint statement that they had all rejected the accusations and reiterated their support for Ukraine in its fight against Russia.

They said: "Our countries made clear that we all reject Russia's obviously false allegations that Ukraine is getting ready to use a dirty bomb on its own territory." "Any attempt to escalate under the guise of this allegation would be exposed by the world," the author writes.

The Russian accusation, according to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, was a sign that Moscow was preparing its own attack and would blame Ukraine in a statement he made overnight.

"If Russia calls and claims that Ukraine is purportedly getting ready for something, it only means that Russia has already done so," Zelenskiy said.

"Therefore, everyone is in complete agreement when the Russian Minister of Defense organizes a phone carousel today and calls foreign ministers with tales of the alleged "dirty" nuclear bomb. recognizes the identity of the source of all possible imaginable dirty activity in this war."

EVACUATION

Russia, which controls territory on the western bank of the Dnipro River where Ukrainian forces have been advancing since the beginning of this month shortly after Moscow claimed to have annexed the area, has ordered civilians to leave the area.

One of Moscow's biggest setbacks in the conflict would be a Russian defeat there. Russia's sole holding on the west bank of the Dnipro, which divides Ukraine, is the regional capital of Kherson, which is also the only major city it has successfully occupied intact since the invasion in February. The province is in charge of the entrance to Crimea, a peninsula that Russia seized and asserted its annexation over in 2014.

Men who choose to stay behind will have the option of joining a military self-defense unit, according to the Russian-installed authorities in Kherson, who made this announcement on Monday. According to the Geneva Conventions, Kyiv accuses Russia of press-ganging men into military formations in occupied territories.

President Vladimir Putin has escalated the conflict since his forces suffered significant battlefield losses in September by mobilizing tens of thousands of reservists, announcing the annexation of occupied territory, and repeatedly threatening to use nuclear weapons to defend Russian territory.

As winter approaches, Russia has begun a new offensive against Ukraine's electric and heating systems using drones made in Iran and long-range cruise missiles.

Talk shows on Russian state television frequently feature commentators who openly applaud attacks on civil infrastructure in Ukraine and demand ever-tougher measures to eliminate what they refer to as an illegitimate Ukrainian state.

On Monday, Russian state TV host Anton Krasovsky apologized for comments in which he suggested burning Ukrainian children alive in huts with the doors nailed shut and drowning them in rivers. He also made light of the fact that Ukrainian grandmothers were setting aside money for their funerals to hire Russian soldiers to rape them.

"Well, it happens: you get carried away when you're on air. And you can't stop," Krasovsky added, expressing his "huge embarrassment." ".

The state-funded international channel RT in Russia suspended Krasovsky, and the Investigative Committee of Russia announced that it had requested a report into his "sharp comments."

Dmytro Kuleba, the foreign minister of Ukraine, urged nations to outlaw RT and predicted that Krasovsky would one day face charges for encouraging genocide.