UA
FR
DEUkraine called on the United Nations and the IAEA to send their monitoring missions to verify Russia‘s statements on the possible use of a “dirty bomb.”
“Ukrainian army liberates our land from Russian dirt. The thought of a ‘dirty bomb’ is repulsive to us. We invite UN and IAEA monitoring missions to visit Ukraine. The world should provide a response to Russian nuclear blackmail,” Minister of Defence of Ukraine Oleksii Reznikov posted on Twitter.
He also added that Ukraine demanded adherence to Paragraph 4 of the Budapest Memorandum, which states that Russia, the United Kingdom, and the United States must respond if Ukraine becomes a victim of an act of aggression or the object of a threat of aggression with the use of nuclear weapons.
In such a case, these states should seek immediate action from the UN Security Council to provide assistance to Ukraine as a non-nuclear-weapon State party to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons.
At the same time, the USA, France, and the United Kingdom jointly condemned Russia’s false allegations that Ukraine is preparing to use a “dirty bomb.”
A joint statement by the foreign ministers of these countries is posted on the official website of the U.S. Department of State.
“Our countries 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 allies stressed.
Moreover, the countries reiterated their steadfast support for Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity in the face of Russia’s ongoing aggression. The ministers also pointed out their determination to continue supporting Ukraine and the Ukrainian people with security, economic, and humanitarian assistance.
On Sunday, 23 October, Minister of Defence of the Russian Federation Sergei Shoigu called at least four defence ministers of NATO member states (the USA, France, Turkey, and the UK) and talked about the Ukrainian “dirty bomb.”
Before that, the Russian propaganda media published a message about Ukraine’s alleged possible use of such a bomb on its territory to accuse Russia of using weapons of mass destruction and turn the whole world against Moscow.
President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky called on the world to respond as harshly as possible to Russia’s statements.
Bohdan Marusyak
