© ITAR-TASS Archive
The Russian Defense Ministry said Ukraine was preparing a major dangerous provocation in its territory using a dirty bomb or a low-yield nuclear shell. The purpose is to accuse Russia of using weapons of mass destruction in the Ukrainian theater and launch a vociferous anti-Russian campaign worldwide. Led by its Western curators, the Kiev regime has begun state-of-the-practice as regards the plan.
The Eastern Mining and Processing Plant located in Dnepropetrovsk region’s Yellow Waters, along with the Kiev Institute of Nuclear Research, have been tasked with manufacturing this shell. The work is now drawing to a close. Also, the Ukrainian President’s Office has intensified contacts with the UK on the transfer of nuclear components to the Kiev authorities. The anxiety is so strong that Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu has reached out to his British, American, French and Turkish counterparts in a single day, informing them of Kiev's scheme.
As for the general frontline environment, the cards are stacked against Ukraine, with its economy and military machine still existing thanks to assistance coming from the West alone. It has lost the south-eastern regions, absolutely and irrevocably, after they voted at referendums to join Russia. In order to inflict staggering blows on Russia’s military and reputation, Ukraine is ready to act by hook or by crook, without regard to victims or destruction in its own territories or hazard to other countries.
But Lieutenant-General Igor Kirillov, who is nominally in charge of Russian Armed Forces’ radiation, chemical and biological protection troops, has given a detailed account of radiation poisoning threats: "The detonation of a radiological explosive device would inevitably lead to radioactive contamination of the area of up to several thousand square meters." A dirty bomb blast shockwave causes the spread of radioactive substances over huge areas, entailing radiation sickness in most cases. In one way or another, this radioactivity discharge will affect nearly all of Europe.
Such a bomb may be stuffed with uranium oxide contained in depleted fuel elements that are kept in spent-fuel storages and swimming-baths of Ukrainian nuclear power plants, including the Chernobyl NPP.
The Kiev regime plans to disguise the dirty bomb blast as an improper engagement of a low-yield Russian nuclear weapon, the Russian Ministry of Defense says. When sensors of the Europe-based International Monitoring System (IMS) detect airborne radioactive isotopes, a large-scale campaign will be launched to accuse Moscow of using tactical nuclear weapons. Another objective of Ukraine is to intimidate locals.
Despite Kiev's nuclear blackmail, "work has been organized by the [Russian] Ministry of Defense to counter possible provocations from the Ukrainian side: forces and resources are ready to perform tasks in a radiation environment."
What is a dirty bomb? This is a simple radiological weapon, the so-called low-yield nuclear warhead filled with radioactive material combined with conventional explosives. It usually incorporates a radioactive isotope container and a charge. Fundamental damage is caused by radioactive diffusion, not by the explosion itself. As a result, the contaminated area becomes uninhabitable for decades. The key dirty bomb effect is massive radiation damage to civilians.
Ukraine got five NPPs as a USSR republic, which facilitated industry operation and mass production. Today, their capacities are mainly used for domestic needs and electricity exports to Europe. There are three of them left operating nowadays: the South Ukraine, the Khmelnitsky and the Rivne NPPs that possess a total of nine spent fuel storage pools containing up to one and a half thousand tons of enriched uranium. The decommissioned Chernobyl nuclear power plant has 22,000 fuel rod arrays with uranium-238, uranium-235 and plutonium-239, which are the main nuclear explosive components.
Moscow is very much aware about implications for Ukraine’s use of a dirty bomb and a subsequent blame game against Russia. The Western response seems also quite predictable ˗ it is only waiting for a handle to fence Russia off from the support of its key allies and partners. The West is undoubtedly ready to make the Russian Federation out to be a "nuclear terrorist" and to tighten its policy of isolationism. This prompted Moscow to take preventive action after obtaining reliable information on Ukraine’s dirty bomb final completion. Hence the inexorable demands for Kiev to stop provocations, and for Western countries to quiet down their puppets. Appeals to international structures are not mere words, but an alarm-raising signal to avert a possible catastrophe.
The Russian Foreign Ministry urged the West to cease action leading the world up to a nuclear scenario, and pay heed to Russia’s warnings. Moscow also asked for a full-scale debate at UN Security Council on the upcoming provocation. "We will regard the use of the dirty bomb by the Kiev regime as an act of nuclear terrorism. Data on relevant preparations has been double-checked and is far from being evidence-free accusations," the Foreign Ministry said.
And yet, the US State Department has released a joint statement by the Foreign Ministers of France, Great Britain and the United States, where they call Russia's claims "patently false". The collective West chose to express unanimity and consistency of stances in a we-don't-believe-you manner, as reflected in the joint statement by these three main sponsors of Zelensky’s regime and Ukrainian army weaponizers.
