Russia-Ukraine latest updates: ‘Dirty bomb’ claim false – West

The UN nuclear watchdog says it is preparing to send inspectors in the coming days to two Ukrainian sites at Kyiv’s request, in an apparent reaction to Russian claims that Ukraine could deploy a so-called dirty bomb, which Ukraine denies.

“The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) is aware of statements made by the Russian Federation on Sunday about alleged activities at two nuclear locations in Ukraine,” the IAEA said in a statement, adding that both were already subject to its inspections and one was inspected a month ago.

“The IAEA is preparing to visit the locations in the coming days,” it added.

Kyiv says Russia is purposefully delaying the arrival from Turkey of more than 165 cargo ships heading to Ukrainian ports to be loaded with grain.

Russia’s inspectors “have been significantly prolonging the inspection of vessels … As a result, more than 165 vessels have been stuck in a queue near the Bosphorus Strait and this number continues to grow daily”, the Ukrainian foreign ministry said.

“We have reason to believe that the delays in Russia’s inspections of the Grain Initiative’s vessels are politically motivated,” it added.

The vessels have been waiting to clear the meticulous inspection process required under the Turkish- and UN-backed accord aimed at getting Ukrainian grain to foreign markets and easing fears of a global food crisis.

US State Department Spokesperson Ned Price says there will be consequences for Russia whether it uses a so-called “dirty bomb” or a conventional nuclear weapon.

Washington and other Western countries have accused Russia of plotting to use a threat of a device laced with nuclear material as a pretext for escalation in Ukraine.

Asked if Washington would treat the use of a “dirty bomb” the same as any other nuclear bomb, Price said “there would be consequences” for Russia either way.

“Whether it uses a ‘dirty bomb’ or a nuclear bomb. We’ve been very clear about that,” Price told reporters.

NATO says Russia must not escalate the conflict in Ukraine with false claims that Kyiv is planning to unleash a so-called “dirty bomb”.

Jens Stoltenberg, NATO secretary general, weighed in following Moscow’s repeated allegations that Ukraine could deploy such a weapon, sparking fears Russia could use one and blame Kyiv.

“NATO Allies reject this allegation. Russia must not use it as a pretext for escalation. We remain steadfast in our support for Ukraine,” he wrote on Twitter.

The Kremlin has alleged that Ukraine is in the “final stages” of developing a dirty bomb, a claim strongly rejected by Kyiv.

France is calling on African nations to show “solidarity” with Europe after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Russia’s invasion is “an existential threat to the stability and integrity of our continent”, minister of state at the French foreign ministry, Chrysoula Zacharopoulou, told the Dakar International Forum on Peace and Security.

“This is what all Europeans are living through,” she told the conference of regional leaders. “That’s why we expect solidarity from Africa. We can never repeat it enough: Russia is solely responsible for this economic, energy and food crisis.”

The war has divided Africa with nearly half of the continent’s countries again abstaining or not voting to condemn Moscow’s annexation of more Ukrainian territory at the United Nations on October 13.

Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian says Tehran will not remain indifferent if it is proven that its drones are being used by Russia in the Ukraine war.

He was quoted by Iranian state media as saying the defence cooperation between Tehran and Moscow will continue.

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says the decision by Israeli leaders not to support Kyiv has encouraged Russia’s military partnership with Iran.

“This alliance of theirs simply would not have happened if your politicians had made only one decision at the time,” Zelenskyy told a conference organised by the Israeli newspaper Haaretz. “… It seems that it was adopted a long time ago – in 2014 when Russia began its aggression against Ukraine.”

“The decision ‘not to annoy’ the Kremlin, not to help Ukraine for real,” enabled the alliance between Moscow and Tehran, Zelensky said.

Zelenskyy has on several occasions criticised Israel for failing to firmly oppose Russian aggression. The Israeli position has however evolved over recent months, from near neutrality to more forceful condemnations of Russia.

A senior US military official says Washington has seen no indications that Russia has decided to use nuclear, chemical or biological weapons in Ukraine.

“We still have seen nothing to indicate that the Russians have made a decision to employ nuclear weapons,” the official told journalists, later adding that the same applies to chemical and biological arms.

The remarks come after repeated Russian warnings that Ukraine could use a so-called dirty bomb, which have sparked fears of an escalation by Moscow.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov says that accusing Moscow of planning an attack with a radioactive “dirty bomb”, as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy did on Sunday, was “not a serious conversation”, the Interfax news agency reports.

Lavrov was reported to have made the remarks to journalists at the Valdai Discussion Club think tank.

Russia has taken steps to boost weapons production as it fights in Ukraine, says Dmitry Medvedev, deputy head of Russia’s Security Council.

Medvedev said he visited the country’s top tank factory in the Ural Mountain city of Nizhny Tagil to discuss ways of increasing output.

“[The] production of weapons and equipment from tanks and cannons to precision missiles and drones is increasing many fold,” he said. “You just wait.”

He also noted that foreign observers have predicted that Russia would run out of its weapons stockpiles soon and said such forecasts are bound to be proven wrong.

UK Chief of Defence Staff Tony Radakin has rejected Russia’s allegations that Ukraine is planning an attack with a “dirty bomb”.

“The Chief of Defence Staff rejected Russia’s allegations that Ukraine is planning actions to escalate the conflict, and he restated the UK’s enduring support for Ukraine,” a statement from the British Ministry of Defence said.

“The military leaders both agreed on the importance of maintaining open channels of communication between the UK and Russia to manage the risk of miscalculation and to facilitate de-escalation.”

A statement on the Chief of the Defence Staff’s call with the Russian Chief of the General Staff, General of the Army Valery Vasilyevich Gerasimov: pic.twitter.com/0OTbnTIoLv

— Ministry of Defence 🇬🇧 (@DefenceHQ) October 24, 2022

The chief of the Russian military’s General Staff, Valery Gerasimov, and British Chief of Defence Staff Tony Radakin have spoken by phone to discuss what Moscow called the possibility that Ukraine could use a “dirty bomb”, the Russian defence ministry said.

It gave no details of the call, which followed a series of conversations on Sunday when Russian Minister of Defence Sergey Shoigu told Western defence ministers that Moscow believed Ukraine was preparing to detonate such a device.

A dirty bomb would use conventional explosives packed with radioactive material to spread contamination over a wide area.

Meanwhile, the foreign ministers of France, Britain and the United States said they all rejected “Russia’s transparently false allegations”.

While the West is persuading countries to denounce Russia for its invasion of Ukraine, Gulf states remain neutral.

To Saudi Arabia and other members of the Gulf Cooperation Council, the conflict is inherently European, meaning there’s no need for them to take a firm stance.

Read more about Saudi Arabia’s view on the war here.

The narrative around the conflict or “special military operation” is changing in Russia.

As Ukraine retakes occupied territories and the Kremlin fires and hires military generals, public figures, loyalists on state TV channels, and even military bloggers are all voicing their opinions.

Al Jazeera’s Listening Posts speaks to experts about why Russian media is turning on the conflict.

With Russia claiming that Ukraine is planning to detonate a “dirty bomb” and both countries eyeing the future of the Nova Kakhovka dam, what does it look like on the ground?

Al Jazeera has four maps, which it updates daily, tracking the latest developments in the war.

Russian authorities say Ukrainian troops have fired rockets at a significant hydroelectric power plant in the southern region of Kherson.

On Telegram, Vladimir Rogov, a senior member of the Kherson regional administration, said the Ukrainian military fired 19 rockets at the Kakhovka plant and scored three hits.

He added that there was no critical damage to the plant, which continues to operate.

Russia and Ukraine have accused each other of plotting to blow up the Kakhovka dam.

Ukraine says Russian inspections have been creating “significant” delays in exporting Ukrainian food products over the Black Sea, calling them “politically motivated” and a cause for concern.

“We have reason to believe delays in Russia’s inspections of the grain initiative’s vessels are politically motivated,” the foreign ministry said in a statement.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said unblocking shipments from Black Sea ports would depend on UN information on which countries were receiving a shipment.

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba urges the UN nuclear watchdog to immediately send an inspection team to the country to counter Moscow’s claim that Kyiv is preparing a “provocation” involving a “dirty bomb.”

Kuleba tweeted that he made the request in a call with Rafael Grossi, head of the International Atomic Energy Agency.

“In my call with Rafael Grossi, I officially invited IAEA to urgently send experts to peaceful facilities in Ukraine, which Russia deceitfully claims to be developing a dirty bomb. He agreed. Unlike Russia, Ukraine has always been and remains transparent. We have nothing to hide.”

In my call with @RafaelMGrossi I officially invited IAEA to urgently send experts to peaceful facilities in Ukraine which Russia deceitfully claims to be developing a dirty bomb. He agreed. Unlike Russia, Ukraine has always been and remains transparent. We have nothing to hide.

— Dmytro Kuleba (@DmytroKuleba) October 24, 2022

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said rebuilding Ukraine will be a “task for a generation” that no country, donor or international institution can manage alone.

Scholz spoke at a German-Ukrainian business forum, a day before he and the head of the European Union’s executive commission will host a gathering of experts to help mobilise international support for Ukraine’s reconstruction.

Scholz said it’s important not just to repair destroyed energy plants and networks but to make them more efficient — ultimately allowing an expansion of Ukrainian electricity exports to the EU and a step-by-step transition to climate neutrality.

The chancellor also referred to the EU’s decision in June to make Ukraine a candidate to join the bloc.

“This decision also sends a signal to private investors: Anyone who invests in rebuilding Ukraine today is investing in a future EU member country that will be part of our legal community and our single market,” he said.

Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov says Moscow asked the United Nations for data on the destination and end-consumers for Ukrainian grain exports because “corrections” to the deal that unblocked shipments from Black Sea ports would depend on this information.

In July, Russia signed on to a Turkish-brokered deal to facilitate Ukrainian grain shipments that it had blocked since the start of its war with Ukraine.

But it has since said the deal is not directing grain to the world’s poorest countries and cast doubt on whether it will opt to renew it in future.

Lavrov added that between 5 and 7 percent of the grain concerned was reaching the world’s poorest countries, with about 50 percent of the exports being shipped to the European Union.