Ukraine war headed for ‘uncontrolled escalation’ as dirty bomb fears grow

Western officials, including UK foreign secretary James Cleverly, have strongly refuted claims from Moscow that Ukraine plans to use a “dirty bomb”, and instead have accused Russia of plotting to use a threat of a missile laced with nuclear material as a pretext for escalation of the war.

With Ukrainian forces advancing into Russian-occupied Kherson province, Moscow’s defence minister Sergei Shoigu phoned Western counterparts to tell them his country suspected Kyiv of planning to use a “dirty bomb“.

That claim was also backed up on Monday by Moscow, with officials claiming Kyiv was in the “final stage” of creating such a weapon.

However, in a joint statement, the foreign ministers of France, Britain and the United States said they rejected the allegations by Russia.

“Our countries made clear that we all reject Russia’s transparently false allegations that Ukraine is preparing to use a dirty bomb on its own territory,” they said. “The world would see through any attempt to use this allegation as a pretext for escalation.”

In an overnight address, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said the Russian accusation was a sign Moscow was planning such an attack itself and would blame Ukraine.

“If Russia calls and says that Ukraine is allegedly preparing something, it means one thing: Russia has already prepared all this,” Zelensky said.

“So when today the Russian Minister of Defence organises 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.”

Mr Shoigu held a flurry of calls with Nato counterparts in the United States, France and Turkey on Sunday. His ministry said he had told them of Russian concerns that Kyiv was plotting to detonate a device laced with radioactive material.

In his call with Britain’s Defence Secretary Ben Wallace, the Russian claimed that the West was facilitating these actions to escalate Vladimir Putin’s war in Ukraine, British officials claimed.

Mr Wallace refuted the claims and cautioned that such allegations should not be used as a pretext for greater escalation, in an exchange requested by Moscow and described as “professional and respectful” on both sides.

Following the call with French counterpart, Sebastien Lecornu, Mr Shoigu claimed the situation in Ukraine was “rapidly deteriorating” and was “trending towards further uncontrolled escalation”.

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

A Russian defeat there would be one of Moscow’s biggest setbacks of the war.

Kherson’s regional capital is the only big city Russia has captured intact since the invasion in February, and its only foothold on the west bank of the Dnipro, which bisects Ukraine. The province controls the gateway to Crimea, the peninsula Russia seized and claimed to annex in 2014.

The Russian-installed authorities in Kherson announced on Monday that men who stay behind would have the option of joining a military self-defence unit. Kyiv accuses Russia of press-ganging men in occupied areas into military formations, a war crime under the Geneva Conventions.

Since his forces suffered major battlefield defeats in September, President Vladimir Putin has escalated the war, calling up hundreds of thousands of reservists, announcing the annexation of occupied territory and repeatedly threatening to use nuclear weapons to defend Russian land.

This month, Russia has started a new campaign using long-range cruise missiles and Iranian-made drones to attack Ukraine’s electric power and heat ahead of winter.

Last week, Nato launched its annual nuclear deterrence exercise – planned since before Mr Putin’s invasion of Ukraine – involving training flights over the UK, North Sea and Belgium.

The alliance has said it expects Russia will also soon hold drills to test the readiness of its own nuclear forces.

Additional reporting by Reuters