Ukraine’s defense minister Oleksii Reznikov commented on the Russia’s defense minister claims regarding a ‘dirty bomb’.
On Sunday, Russian minister Shoygu claimed in phone calls to defense ministers of the UK, France and Turkey that Ukraine was allegedly preparing a ‘dirty nuclear bomb’.
‘A guilty conscience gives itself away’, – wrote Reznikov on Facebook, calling on the international community to introduce tough preventive steps.
‘Lies about a “dirty bomb” that Ukraine is supposedly preparing to use is an element of the kremlin’s usual tactics. The one where russian criminals are trying to preemptively blame the victim of aggression for their own crime’, Ukraine’s minister said.
He stressed that Ukraine has always been ‘extremely responsible in matters of nuclear safety’ and is always open to the IAEA.
‘This has happened repeatedly since 2014. After 24 February, Russia has been openly threatening to use nuclear weapons. In spring, they deliberately provoked disaster at the Chornobyl nuclear power plant, and now they are blackmailing the world with a disaster at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant. Their missiles pose a threat to other Ukrainian nuclear facilities’, – Reznikov added.
He also said the best response to Russian accusations is ‘decisive steps to increase pressure on the criminal terrorist regime in Moscow, as well as active assistance to Ukraine with means that will help cleanse our land from the scourge quicker’.
‘I will say this not as a minister, but as a citizen. The attitude towards land in Ukraine has always been special. Today from the reaction of our soldiers and all our people I can see how sincerely they strive to free Ukrainian land from Russian dirt. From projectiles, remnants of equipment, garbage left behind by the Russian hordes. It is not even a military need; it is a mental one. Therefore, even theoretically, it is impossible to imagine that Ukraine is capable of doing something that could cause the long-term contamination of our land. This is nonsense. I am grateful to our partners who adequately perceive this dangerous Russian twaddle’ the minister concluded.