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.
