<div style="text-align: justify; "><span style="font-size: 1rem;"><b>Ukraine has condemned unsubstantiated claims by Russia that Kyiv might use a "dirty bomb" - conventional explosives laced with radioactive material.</b></span><br></div><div style="text-align: justify; "><br></div><div style="text-align: justify; ">President Volodymyr Zelensky said this meant Russia itself could be preparing an attack of this kind.</div><div style="text-align: justify; "><br></div><div style="text-align: justify; ">Ukraine's allies also dismissed the claims, with the US saying it "rejected any pretext for Russian escalation".</div><div style="text-align: justify; "><br></div><div style="text-align: justify; ">Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu made the dirty bomb remarks in a call with his UK counterpart Ben Wallace.</div><div style="text-align: justify; "><br></div><div style="text-align: justify; ">He said he was "concerned about possible provocations by Kyiv involving the use of a dirty bomb".</div><div style="text-align: justify; "><br></div><div style="text-align: justify; ">On Sunday, Mr Shoigu also held a flurry of phone calls with defence ministers of the US, France and Turkey, voicing Moscow's alarm. He provided no evidence to back up his accusations.</div><div style="text-align: justify; "><br></div><div style="text-align: justify; ">Responding to this, President Zelensky accused Russia of being "the source of everything dirty that can be imagined in this war".</div><div style="text-align: justify; "><br></div><div style="text-align: justify; ">He said Russia was threatening the world "with a radiation disaster" at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant which it had captured and also spoke of Moscow's threats to detonate a major dam in southern Ukraine. The Kremlin denies the allegations.</div><div style="text-align: justify; "><br></div><div style="text-align: justify; ">The Ukrainian leader also stressed that "the world should react in the toughest possible way".</div><div style="text-align: justify; "><br></div><div style="text-align: justify; ">Meanwhile, Mr Wallace said he refuted Mr Shoigu's allegations that "Ukraine was planning actions facilitated by Western countries, including the UK, to escalate the conflict in Ukraine".</div><div style="text-align: justify; "><br></div><div style="text-align: justify; ">He also cautioned that such claims "should not be used as a pretext for greater escalation".</div><div style="text-align: justify; "><br></div><div style="text-align: justify; ">Similar comments were made by the US Secretary of Defence, Lloyd Austin, who spoke to Mr Shoigu on Sunday, in what was the second such phone call in days.</div><div style="text-align: justify; "><br></div><div style="text-align: justify; ">And in a joint statement, the foreign ministers of France, the UK and the US said their governments "all reject Russia's transparently false allegations that Ukraine is preparing to use a dirty bomb on its own territory", stressing that they would continue supporting Ukraine in "the face of President [Vladimir] Putin's brutal war of aggression".</div><div style="text-align: justify; "><br></div><div style="text-align: justify; ">Military analysts note that the Russian accusations come after a string of heavy Russian military defeats and as Ukrainian troops continue their counter-offensive operations in the east and south of the country.</div><div style="text-align: justify; "><br></div><div style="text-align: justify; ">The US-based Institute for the Study of War (ISW) said in a series of tweets that Mr Shoigu "likely sought to slow or suspend Western military aid to Ukraine and possibly weaken the Nato alliance in scare-mongering calls".</div><div style="text-align: justify; "><br></div><div style="text-align: justify; ">However, the ISW added: "The Kremlin is unlikely to be preparing an imminent false-flag dirty bomb attack. Shoigu's claims further a longstanding Russian information campaign."</div><div style="text-align: justify; "><br></div><div style="text-align: justify; "><b>In other developments on Sunday:</b></div><div style="text-align: justify; "><br></div><div style="text-align: justify; "><b>&lt;&gt;</b>Ukraine's state energy company said it had partially restored electricity supplies following massive Russian missile and drone strikes</div><div style="text-align: justify; "><br></div><div style="text-align: justify; "><b>&lt;&gt;</b>Russia's RT state broadcaster said it was suspending its senior employee Anton Krasovsky, after he was heard saying in a TV programme that Ukrainian children should be drowned or burned to death</div><div style="text-align: justify; "><br></div><div style="text-align: justify; "><b>&lt;&gt; </b>Ukraine's security service SBU confirmed that Vyacheslav Bohuslayev, former head of the Motor Sich company, was arrested after being accused of illegally selling aviation engines to Russia. BBC</div><div style="text-align: justify; "><br></div><div style="text-align: justify; ">bnbd24/kh</div>