'Zelenskyy contacted UK to obtain nuclear technology', claims Russia's Defence Ministry

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has been in contact with the UK "to obtain nuclear weapons technology," Lieutenant-General Igor Kirillov, Chief of the Radiation, Chemical and Biological Protection Troops of the Russian Armed Forces said in an explosive claim on October 23. The latter alleged that the Ukrainian armed forces plan on using a false flag provocation to detonate a "dirty bomb," a nuclear weapon with explosives, such as dynamite, with radioactive powder or pellets. The provocation, said Russia's Defense Ministry, was being prepared to subsequently accuse Russia of using weapons of mass destruction in Ukraine during the ongoing offensive. 

"We have information about the contacts of the office of the President of Ukraine with representatives of Great Britain regarding the possibility to obtain a technology to build nuclear weapons,” the representative of the Russian Defence Ministry said. 

UK defense minister calls Russia's claims 'pretext for escalation'

Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, in a phone call with heads of defense departments of the UK, Turkey, France, and the US, was notified about the looming threat. The White House, though, refuted Russia’s accusations. "We reject reports of Minister Shoigu'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," said US National Security Council spokesperson Adrienne Watson at a briefing. 

British Defense Secretary Ben Wallace also dismissed Moscow's claims as he warned its forces against using it as a "pretext for escalation." The British Ministry of Defense stated that in a call with Wallace, Russia "alleged that Ukraine was planning actions facilitated by Western countries, including the UK, to escalate the conflict in Ukraine." But such allegations were strongly rejected. 

"The Defense Secretary refuted these claims and cautioned that such allegations should not be used as a pretext for greater escalation," Uk's defense ministry said.

In a televised address, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy alleged that Russia's troops were instead setting the stage for deploying radioactive explosives in Ukraine, and were staging a false flag provocation. "If Russia calls and says that Ukraine is allegedly preparing something, it means only one thing: that Russia has already prepared all of it," Zelenskyy asserted. The United States, the UK, and France, in a joint statement, iterated that the world "would see through any attempt to use this allegation as a pretext for escalation." 

Secretary of State for the US, Antony Bliken, tweeted that he spoke to Ukraine's Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba to "reject Russia's false allegations that Ukraine is preparing to use a dirty bomb on its own territory". Kremlin stated that Russian Defense Minister Shoigu had also spoken to US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin highlighting the risks. Pentagon, although, said that US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin "rejected any pretext for Russian escalation" in the phone call held between the two counterparts.