On Oct. 23, the U.S. Department of State published a joint statement on Ukraine by the governments of the United States of America, France and the United Kingdom, rejecting Russia’s allegations that Ukraine is preparing a false-flag “dirty bomb” attack against Russia.
“Earlier today, the defense ministers of each of our countries spoke to Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoygu at his request. 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. The world would see through any attempt to use this allegation as a pretext for escalation. We further reject any pretext for escalation by Russia,” the statement reads.
The foreign ministers of the three states also reiterated their “steadfast support for Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity in the face of Russia’s ongoing aggression” and confirmed their commitment to continue supporting Ukraine’s efforts to defend its territory “for as long as it takes.”
President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky dedicated a part of his regular night address to what he called a “phone carousel” of Shoygu to tell the foreign ministers “stories about the so-called ‘dirty’ nuclear bomb.” “If Russia calls and says that Ukraine is allegedly preparing something, it means one thing: Russia has already prepared all this,” he said.
According to the Institute for the Study of War, “Shoigu likely sought to slow or suspend Western military aid to Ukraine and possibly weaken the NATO alliance in scare-mongering calls with several NATO defense ministers on October 23.” However, the ISW doubts that the Kremlin is preparing an imminent false-flag dirty bomb attack. “Shoigu’s calls—and Russian state media’s amplification of false dirty bomb threats—are therefore likely intended to intimidate Western states into cutting or limiting support for Ukraine as Russia faces continued military setbacks and the likely loss of western Kherson by the end of the year,” the Institute concludes.
In the wake of Shoygu’s “phone carousel,” Ukraine’s Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov said in a tweet that the Ukrainian army is liberating Ukraine from Russian dirt, and the “thought of a ‘dirty bomb’ is repulsive to us.” He also demanded adherence to paragraph 4 of the Budapest Memorandum (whereby Russia, the United Kingdom and the United States of America reaffirm their commitment to seek immediate United Nations Security Council action to provide assistance to Ukraine, as a non-nuclear-weapon State party to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, if Ukraine should become a victim of an act of aggression or an object of a threat of aggression, in which nuclear weapons are used).
Photo collage: Ukraina Moloda
