Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu made the claim in his phone conversations with U.K. Defense Secretary Ben Wallace, French Defense Minister Sebastien Lecornu, and Turkish Defense Minister Hulusi Akar.
On the morning of Oct. 23, Russian state-owned agency RIA Novosti reported, citing sources, that Ukrainian forces were planning to use a "dirty bomb" or a "small nuclear bomb".
Mykhailo Podolyak, an advisor to the head of Ukraine's President's Office, called Shoigu’s claims "absurd."
“An absolute and quite predictable absurdity uttered by those who still continue to believe that it is possible to lie brazenly. And someone will believe it,” Podolyak told Liga, a Ukrainian news outlet.
There has been speculation that the Kremlin's claims about a Ukrainian dirty bomb are preparation for a false-flag attack by Russia.
