(NewsGlobal.com)- Russian Minister of Defense Sergei Shoigu claimed that Ukraine is planning to deploy a “dirty bomb,” “a conventional explosion designed to disperse radiological material,” according to a report from the defense and national security website 19FortyFive. The report suggests that Russia’s claims are the latest “false flag” operation enacted by the nation.
Ukraine denied the allegations, with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky suggesting that Russia has already planned an operation against the country.
“If Russia calls and says that Ukraine is allegedly preparing something, it means only one thing: Russia has already prepared all this,” he said.
Western defense officials from the U.S., U.K., France, and Turkey, on the call with Shoigu also denied that Ukraine was going to detonate a “dirty bomb,” echoing Zelensky’s warning that the country was going to use this allegation to launch its own counterstrike, according to Politico.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has reportedly targeted Ukraine’s energy supply, with recent strikes cutting off 40% of the country’s infrastructure. The “humanitarian crisis” comes as Ukraine prepares itself for the. Energy exports to Europe have also been halted.
Putin is reportedly seeking a potential radiological disaster after destroying the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant (ZNPP) to freeze Ukraine after losing territories and soldiers.
Disabling the plant is part of a series of recent moves in Russia’s effort to put Ukraine on its knees according to Zelensky, including its air strikes, threatening to destroy the Kherson hydro-electric dam, the sabotage of Nord Stream pipelines (which Russia denies), and the recent OPEC+ decision to cut oil production.
In his bid to maintain control of the ZNPP, Putin reportedly slow-rolled permission for the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to inspect the plant, opposing the agency’s calls for the need to establish a safety and security zone.
Should Russia sabotage the plant as it experiences artillery shelling, reductions and abductions of plant personnel, loss of main power, and interruptions of backup power, the potential for a catastrophic nuclear disaster comparable to the disaster of the Fukushima plant in 2011. To deal with that possibility, Russia has reportedly launched this false flag operation to accuse Ukraine of preparing to detonate a “dirty bomb.”
