Russia-Ukraine war: What is a dirty bomb? Kiev heaps allegations on Putin as nuclear war threat looms large

Russia-Ukraine war: Ukraine's nuclear energy operator has said Russian forces were performing secret work at Europe's largest nuclear power plant, an activity that could shed light on Russia's claims that the Ukrainian military is preparing a "provocation" involving a radioactive device.

Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu made an unsubstantiated allegation that Ukraine was preparing to launch a so-called dirty bomb. Shoigu leveled the charge over the weekend in calls to his British, French, Turkish and U.S. Counterparts. Britain, France and the United States rejected it out of hand as "transparently false."

What is a dirty bomb? 

Dirty bombs don't have the devastating destruction of a nuclear explosion but could expose broad areas to radioactive contamination. They use explosives to scatter the radioactive waste. The rear of a car may readily transport dirty bombs, which are simpler and less expensive to build than nuclear weapons.

Nuclear option should not be resorted to by any side: India to Russia 

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Wednesday told his Russian counterpart Sergei Shoigu that the Ukraine conflict should be resolved through dialogue and diplomacy and the nuclear option should not be resorted to by any side. In telephonic talks, Shoigu briefed Singh on the evolving situation in Ukraine, including his concerns about possible "provocations through use of 'dirty bomb'", the defence ministry said. The conversation took place at the initiative of the Russian defence minister amid escalation of hostilities between Russia and Ukraine. The Indian embassy in Ukraine has asked Indian nationals to leave the country at the earliest in view of fresh wave hostilities.

Ukraine alleges Russian dirty bomb deception at nuke plant

Ukraine also dismissed Moscow's claim as an attempt to distract attention from the Kremlin's own alleged plans to detonate a dirty bomb. Energoatom, the Ukrainian state enterprise that operates the country's four nuclear power plants, said Russian forces have carried out secret construction work over the last week at the occupied Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant in Ukraine.

Russian officers controlling the area won't give access to Ukrainian staff running the plant or monitors from the U.N.'s atomic energy watchdog that would allow them to see what the Russians are doing, Energoatom said Tuesday in a statement.

Energoatom said it "assumes" the Russians "are preparing a terrorist act using nuclear materials and radioactive waste stored at" the plant. It said there were 174 containers at the plant's dry spent fuel storage facility, each of them containing 24 assemblies of spent nuclear fuel.

"Destruction of these containers as a result of explosion will lead to a radiation accident and radiation contamination of several hundred square kilometers (miles) of the adjacent territory," the company said.
It called on the International Atomic Energy Agency to assess what was going on.

What Russia said dirty bomb claims 

The U.N. Security Council was scheduled to hold closed-door consultations about the dirty-bomb allegations later Tuesday at Russia's request. Russia asked the council to establish a commission to investigate its claims that the United States and Ukraine are violating the convention prohibiting the use of biological weapons at laboratories in Ukraine.

Soon after Russia's February 24 invasion of Ukraine, its U.N. Ambassador, Vassily Nebenzia, claimed that secret American labs in Ukraine were engaged in biological warfare ? a charge denied by the U.S. And Ukraine. The Kremlin has insisted that its warning of a purported Ukrainian plan to use a dirty bomb should be taken seriously and criticized Western nations for shrugging it off.

The dismissal of Moscow's warning is "unacceptable in view of the seriousness of the danger that we have talked about," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said. Speaking during a conference call with reporters, Peskov added: ?We again emphasize the grave danger posed by the plans hatched by the Ukrainians.?

At the White House, U.S. President Joe Biden was asked Tuesday if Russia is preparing to deploy a tactical nuclear weapon after making its claims that Ukraine will use a dirty bomb. "I spent a lot of time today talking about that," Biden told reporters. The president was also asked whether the claims about a Ukrainian dirty bomb amounted to a false-flag operation.