No indication that a dirty bomb could be used in Ukraine, says US official

The West has warned of a looming nuclear stand-off in the country

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  Smoke rises on the outskirts of the city during a Russian missile attack in Kyiv. Reuters

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  Workers surround the Monument to the Heroes of the Heavenly Hundred with sandbags against damage from shelling in Mykolaiv. EPA

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  Russian President Vladimir Putin welcomes Azerbaijan President Ilham Aliyev for talks before a meeting between the Russian president and the leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan in the Black Sea resort city of Sochi, Russia. AFP

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  People take water from a water pump in Kyiv. EPA

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  A woman walks past a damaged building in the town of Nova Kakhovka. Reuters

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  A woman outside her home, which was destroyed during battles at the start of the conflict, in Yahidne, Chernihiv. Getty Images

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  People shelter inside a subway station during a Russian missile attack in Kyiv. Reuters

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  Firefighters at the site of a drone attack in Kyiv, Ukraine. AP

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  A woman walks past the site of a Russian missile strike in the southern Ukrainian city of Mykolaiv. Reuters

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  Rescuer workers at a building destroyed in an attack in Mykolaiv. Reuters

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  Parts of a drone lie on a street in Kyiv. Reuters

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  A drone flies over the Ukrainian capital during an attack. AFP

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  Ukrainian servicemen tow a captured Russian armoured vehicle in Rudneve village, Kharkiv. EPA

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  A partially destroyed residential building in Saltivka, in Kharkiv. AP

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  Ukrainian servicemen fire a captured Russian howitzer on a front line near Kupyansk city, Kharkiv. EPA

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  Ukrainian servicemen near the recently retaken town of Lyman in Donetsk region. AFP

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  An officer from a Ukrainian national police emergency demining team prepares to detonate collected anti-tank mines and explosives near Lyman, in the Donetsk region. AFP

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  A boy playing on a destroyed Russian tank on display in Kyiv. AFP

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  A young couple hiding underground during an air alert in Zaporizhzhia. AFP

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  Ukrainian firefighters looking for survivors after a strike in Zaporizhzhia. AFP

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  Workers fix a banner reading 'Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia, Kherson - Russia!' to the State Historical Museum near Red Square in Moscow. AFP

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  Residents try to cross a destroyed bridge in the Kharkiv region of Ukraine. AFP

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  Alyona Kishinskaya helps to clean up a shop as it prepares to reopen in Balakiya, Ukraine, after a six-month Russian occupation. Getty Images

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  Alla, 12, has a swinging time in Balakiya, Ukraine, as life goes on despite the war. Getty Images

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  Ukrainian flags in the town square in Balakiya. Getty Images

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  A destroyed Russian command centre in Izium, Ukraine. Getty Images

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  In what may be a final farewell, young Russian recruits - escorted by their wives - walk to a train station in Volgograd before being sent to war in Ukraine. AP

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  Russian recruits board the train to Ukraine in Volgograd. AP

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  Ukrainian soliders drive a tank at the recently retaken eastern side of the Oskil River in Kharkiv region, Ukraine. AFP

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  Volunteers pass boxes of food aid on a destroyed bridge over the Oskil River. AFP

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  A sign warns of landmines in Izyum, eastern Ukraine. AFP

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  This crater was left after a missile strike in the Donetsk region of Ukraine. AFP

The US and Nato allies remained concerned about the risk of a nuclear escalation in Ukraine on Tuesday, despite a US official telling reporters the previous evening that there was no indication Russia planned to use a nuclear device in the country.

Russian Defence Minister Sergey Shogui called his counterparts in the US, the UK, France and Turkey on Sunday, claiming that Ukraine was planning to use a “dirty bomb” — a bomb rigged with radioactive material that is dispersed on detonation.

There is no battlefield advantage to using a dirty bomb. It wouldn't change the course of the war. I see it as more of a pretext for something, some escalatory step on the Russian side

Scott Roecker,
Nuclear Threat Initiative expert

The US and UK swiftly rejected the claim and said Russia was seeking to escalate the conflict. Experts fear the use of a dirty bomb in Ukraine could provide the pretext for the use of a “tactical nuclear device”, or small nuclear bomb.

In turn, that could put Nato and Russia on collision course for further escalation — potentially a nuclear war that could eradicate life on earth.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has previously said he would be willing to use nuclear arms in Ukraine, telling a Russian state TV documentary in 2015 that he was “ready” to put atomic weapons on standby during the 2014 Crimea crisis.

In September, he said Russia would use “all weapons systems available” in the crisis, a remark which US President Joe Biden said was a warning of nuclear conflict.

The US has massed intelligence assets to assist Ukraine and determine Russian intentions in the conflict, including satellite surveillance, electronic eavesdropping on communications, cyber and espionage operations.

Experts say these combined efforts could determine whether Russia intends to use a nuclear device.

Moscow has continued its assertion that Ukraine is planning a nuclear escalation with an improvised bomb — which experts say would be millions of times smaller than an actual nuclear weapon.

Russia plans to raise the issue with the UN Security Council, diplomats said on Tuesday.

Dirty bombs have long been feared as a potential weapon of terrorists because their main objective is to sow panic, confusion and anxiety by hurling radioactive dust and smoke into the atmosphere.

Although no dirty bomb attack has ever been recorded, two failed attempts to detonate such a device were reported in the southern Russian province of Chechnya more than two decades ago.

Scott Roecker, an expert on atomic weapons with the Nuclear Threat Initiative, told AFP that any use of a dirty bomb in Ukraine “makes zero sense”.

“There is no battlefield advantage to using a dirty bomb. It wouldn't change the course of the war,” Mr Roecker said.

“I see it as more of a pretext for something, some escalatory step on the Russian side if something were to happen. I don't see any reason that Ukraine would want to use a dirty bomb in this war.”