The US, UK, and French foreign ministers disputed Russia’s accusation that Ukraine is preparing to use a “dirty bomb” on its own soil and warned Moscow not to use the allegation as justification to prolong the eight-month conflict.
Any attempt by Russia to do so will be “saw through,” the ministers declared in a joint statement on Monday. For as long as it takes, they declared, they will continue to back Ukraine’s attempts to defend its territory.
According to the US-based Institute for the Study of War, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu “certainly intended to slow or suspend Western military supplies to Ukraine and possibly destabilise the NATO alliance” in recent days by calling peers and claiming Ukraine is getting ready to launch a dirty bomb.
Russia Ukraine war
According to the General Staff of Ukraine, Ukrainian forces withstood Russian attacks near 11 settlements in the Kharkiv and Donetsk areas during the course of the previous day and shot down 12 Shahed-136 drones. According to Kyrylo Budanov, the head of Ukrainian military intelligence, as of October 22 Russian troops have utilised 330 of these drones, of which roughly 222 were shot down and about 30% hit their intended targets.
After suggesting that Ukraine would have to give up territory to Russia as part of prospective peace talks, Vasile Dincu, the defence minister of Romania, resigned.
The president of Romania, Klaus Iohannis, rebuked the public remarks and asserted that only the government in Kyiv can choose with whom to talk.
Dincu had suggested that Russia and Ukraine hold negotiations under NATO supervision. In a letter of resignation he sent on Monday, he highlighted the “impossibility” of working with the president.
According to Nasser Kanaani, spokesman for the Iranian Foreign Ministry, reports that Iran dispatched military trainers to Crimea to help Russian drone strikes are “false” and made to draw attention away from the West’s “destructive role” in the conflict.
Iran Sent Trainers, According to the White House, to Help Russian Drone Attacks.
Despite widespread electrical outages around the nation as a result of repeated Russian airstrikes on the nation’s energy infrastructure, Ukraine’s power grid operator NPC Ukrenergo does not anticipate the worst-case scenario.
Since Russia started aiming to crash Ukraine’s energy facilities on October 10, the business has routinely restricted electricity supplies to relieve pressure on the grid. On Monday, power outages are planned for seven districts, including the Ukrainian capital Kyiv.
Along with Kyiv city and the Crimea that Russia has taken control over, Ukraine has 24 “oblast” regions.
For the second time in three days, Shoigu and US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin spoke on Sunday. The details of the contact on Sunday were not disclosed by Russia or the US, but a Pentagon spokesperson said Austin “rejected any justification for Russian escalation.”
A “dirty bomb” releases radioactive material using regular explosives.
The possibility of peace between Russia and Ukraine exists, according to French President Emmanuel Macron, but it will only materialise on the terms that the Ukrainians pick.
“Let’s prevent the Russian strength from capturing peace. At the Sant’Egidio meeting, an interfaith gathering in Rome, he declared, “Peace is possible, but only the one selected by the Ukrainians and when they decide it.
Although he emphasized that nothing could justify the attack on Ukraine, Macron claimed that the war is the outcome of Russian nationalism, which was fueled by hatred and humiliation in the decades following the fall of the Soviet empire.
According to Pentagon spokesperson John Kirby, Russian President Vladimir Putin is increasing military force and capacity along Ukraine’s border by the day.
“This is a military that continues to become stronger and more prepared.” They’re practising, so we feel he has a lot of capabilities and alternatives if he decides to use military action,” Kirby said MSNBC in an interview on Monday.
