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The United Nation’s nuclear chief said experts are being sent to Ukraine to investigate Russian claims the country is producing “dirty bombs.” The announcement came on Thursday after Russia repeated concerns, without evidence, that Ukraine plans to create and detonate explosives that release radioactive material.
“Allegations have been made, inspections are on the way,” said the director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Rafael Mariano Grossi, on Thursday.
Concern is growing in the international community that Russia is using these unfounded claims as a pretext for their own future attack with similar weapons. Experts will visit two Ukrainian facilities where Russia reports the bombs are being assembled and will conduct “verification activities.” The experts will be under IAEA protections and are going to Ukraine at the written request of the Ukrainian government.
“The purpose of this week’s safeguards visits is to detect any possible undeclared nuclear activities and materials related to the development of ‘dirty bombs,'” Grossi said. He expects the team of experts to present their findings in several days time.
The IAEA plans to send more experts into Ukraine in the following weeks to asses several nuclear facilities in the country, including the decommissioned Chernobyl site. Russia has targeted Ukrainian nuclear power plants throughout the war.
Russia’s claims of a “dirty bomb” began Sunday when Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu called French, British, U.S. and Turkish defense ministers to share concerns with no evidence of Ukraine allegedly preparing the bombs to use on Russian troops.
U.K., U.S., and French foreign ministers released a joint statement in response to Shoigu on Monday that read, in part, “…We all 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,” the statement reads. “We further reject any pretext for escalation by Russia.”
On Wednesday, during a video address to intelligence chiefs of security agencies of former Soviet Union countries, Russian President Vladimir Putin repeated the claim that Ukraine was creating dirty bombs and said the U.S. was supplying Ukraine with heavy weapons.
Ukraine has rejected Russia’s claim and said Russia is providing the pretext for when it decides to detonate a dirty bomb.
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