KYIV: Ukrainian President Volodymir Zelenskyy said during his nightly address Sunday that only Russia was capable of using nuclear weapons in Europe.
His criticism comes as a response to claims by Russian Minister of Defense Sergei Shoigu that Ukraine could detonate a “dirty” nuclear bomb.
“So when today the Russian Minister of Defense [Shoigu] organizes a phone carousel and calls foreign ministers with stories about the so-called ‘dirty’ nuclear bomb, everyone understands everything well. Understands who is the source of everything dirty that can be imagined in this war,” Zelenskyy said in his nightly video message.
“Wherever Russia has brought death and degradation, we are restoring normal life,” Zelenskyy said. “Wherever Russia comes, it leaves behind mass graves, torture chambers, destroyed cities and villages, mined land, destroyed infrastructure and natural disasters.”
Russia’s defense ministry said Shoigu voiced concern to his counterparts from the United States, Britain, France and Turkey about “possible Ukrainian provocations involving a ‘dirty bomb.’”
A “dirty bomb” is a device that uses explosives to scatter radioactive waste. It doesn’t have the devastating effect of a nuclear explosion but could expose broad areas to radioactive contamination, The Associated Press reported.
Meanwhile, U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin had a follow-up call Sunday with Shoigu, the Department of Defense said.
This is the second call between them in three days. According to the Pentagon, Austin rejected any pretext for Russian escalation and reaffirmed the value of continued communication amid “Russia’s unlawful and unjustified war against Ukraine.”
The White House National Security Council also issued a statement rejecting as false Shoigu’s allegations that Ukraine is preparing to use a dirty bomb on its own territory. “The world would see through any attempt to use this allegation as a pretext for escalation,” it said.
(VOA)
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