Wallace’s alert over ‘dirty bomb’ claims
Defence Secretary slaps down Kremlin in rare call
THE Defence Secretary has rejected claims Ukraine is planning to detonate a ‘dirty bomb’ as he warned his Russian counterpart against escalating the war.
In a rare phone call with Sergei Shoigu, Ben Wallace denied that the West was conspiring with Kyiv to ‘facilitate’ a planned escalation of the conflict.
Mr Wallace also warned Moscow’s defence chief against using the allegations to step up Russia’s military campaign – after Shoigu claimed the situation was becoming ‘uncontrollable’.
The call – which was held at Russia’s request – came as Shoigu suggested Kyiv was planning a false flag attack in conversations with French, Turkish and US officials.
He claimed that Ukraine was planning to use a dirty bomb – a conventional explosive laced with radioactive materials – which might then be blamed on Moscow. Russia has provided no evidence to support the allegations.
Ukrainian foreign minister Dmytro Kuleba dismissed the claims as ‘Russian lies’ which are
‘as absurd as they are dangerous’.
He added: ‘Firstly, we neither have any “dirty bombs” nor plan to acquire any. Secondly, Russians often accuse others of what they plan themselves.’
President Volodymyr Zelensky also denied the allegations, posting on social media: ‘If Russia calls and says that Ukraine is allegedly preparing something, it means one thing – Russia has already prepared all this. I believe that now the world should react as harshly as possible.’
The mention of the threat has raised fears that the conflict could escalate further. In his call to French counterpart Sebastian
Lecornu, Shoigu claimed the situation in Ukraine was rapidly deteriorating and ‘ trending towards uncontrollable escalation’.
In a statement, the UK Ministry of Defence said: ‘Minister Shoigu
alleged that Ukraine was planning actions facilitated by Western countries, including the UK, to escalate the conflict in Ukraine.
‘[ Mr Wallace] refuted these claims and cautioned that such allegations should not be used as a pretext for greater escalation.
‘The Defence Secretary also reiterated UK and wider international support for Ukraine and desire to de-escalate this conflict.’
It came as a Russian warplane crashed into a Siberian house and burst into flames – the second time such a accident has happened in less than a week. The two pilots of the Su- 30 fighter jet, which Russia said was on a training flight, were killed when the plane plummeted into the city of Irkutsk yesterday. No civilians are believed to have been killed.
In a strikingly similar incident last Monday, an Su-34 bomber exploded near an apartment building in the Russian city of Yeysk, killing 15 people.