Dhe Ukraine has asked the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to send observers to locations in Ukraine where, according to Russia, a “dirty bomb” is being developed. Director General Rafael Grossi has agreed, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba wrote on Twitter on Monday. He did not write which places it was exactly. The IAEA has not yet confirmed such a mission. Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu claimed in phone calls to several NATO counterparts on Sunday that Kyiv was planning to detonate a conventional explosive device laced with radioactive material.
Defense Minister Christine Lambrecht (SPD) was deeply concerned after Schoigu’s statements. The West must express unanimously that any use of such nuclear weapons would be “crossing red lines,” said Lambrecht on Monday in Calw, Baden-Württemberg, during a visit to the Bundeswehr’s Special Forces Command. “Something like this must not happen.”
Worry about Russia detonating “dirty bomb”.
In a joint statement by France, Britain and the United States, released Sunday after talks with Shoigu, the three governments reiterated their support for Ukraine. “Our countries have made it clear that we all reject Russia’s patently false claims that Ukraine is preparing to use a dirty bomb on its own territory.”
Meanwhile, the Ukrainian counter-offensive in eastern and southern Ukraine continues. According to the Ukrainian armed forces, they have already liberated more than 90 towns with 12,000 inhabitants in the Kherson region. Despite corresponding reports, the Ukrainians do not expect the Russians to withdraw from the city of the same name.
Rather, the Russian army is preparing to defend the city, the head of the military intelligence service, Kyrylo Budanov, said on Monday in the online newspaper Ukrainska Pravda. “The Russian occupiers only create the illusion that they are leaving Cherson, but they are actually bringing new military units there.” Budanov sees the Russian information about the withdrawal of the occupation administration and the Russian banks and the evacuation of hospitals as more of a diversionary maneuver.
In addition, the Russian military administration in Kherson called on the “voluntarily” remaining men on its Telegram channel to join a paramilitary homeland guard. Russia’s appointed regional chief, Volodymyr Saldo, previously said that Kherson should become a “fortress”.
