Ukraine's Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba spoke with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken following Russia's Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu's claims that Ukraine could escalate the situation with a dirty bomb — a device that uses explosives to scatter radioactive waste. Russia provided no evidence to substantiate its allegation.
On Oct. 23, Shoigu spoke on the matter with a number of NATO officials, including U.K. Defense Secretary Ben Wallace, French Defense Minister Sebastien Lecornu, and Turkish Defense Minister Hulusi Akar.
Kuleba said that in his call with Blinken they "agreed that Russia’s ‘dirty bomb’ disinformation campaign might be aimed at creating a pretext for a false-flag operation."
"Russian lies about Ukraine allegedly planning to use a ‘dirty bomb’ are as absurd as they are dangerous," Kuleba said in his earlier statement. "Firstly, Ukraine is a committed NPT (nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty) member: we neither have any ‘dirty bombs’, nor plan to acquire any. Secondly, Russians often accuse others of what they plan themselves."
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