Why does Russia accuse Ukraine of preparing a 'dirty bomb' attack?
Scientists monitor nuclear radiation on a street
Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu accused, without evidence, Kiev of intending to use what is known as a "dirty bomb" - a weapon that uses conventional explosives but also contains radioactive material.
The accusation was refuted by the governments of Ukraine, France, the United Kingdom and the United States.
What did Russia say?
Shoigu told UK Defense Secretary Ben Wallace that he was "concerned about possible provocations from Kiev involving the use of a dirty bomb".
He made similar comments talking to defense ministers from the US, France and Turkey.
In a joint response, France, the United Kingdom and the United States said their governments "reject Russia's clearly false claims that Ukraine is preparing to use a dirty bomb on its own territory".
Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky denied the accusation and said Russia was "the source of everything dirty imaginable in this war".
Linked to the United Nations, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has announced that it will carry out inspections at two sites in Ukraine, at the request of Kiev amid accusations made by Sergei Shoigu.
IAEA Director-General Rafael Grossi said the agency already monitors these sites periodically — one of the unnamed locations was inspected a month ago. "Our findings were consistent with Ukrainian statements in terms of security," Grossi said.
"No undeclared nuclear activity or material was found there."
Shoigu expressed concern to members of foreign governments about Ukraine's use of 'dirty bomb', which Kiev promptly denied.
What is a dirty bomb?
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Also called a radiological dispersion device, it is a bomb that contains radioactive material, which is spread through the air when the conventional explosive detonates.
These devices need not contain highly refined radioactive materials such as those used in a nuclear bomb.
This makes them much cheaper and faster to manufacture than nuclear weapons. They can also easily be transported in the back of a vehicle, for example.
As the fallout of radioactive material can cause serious diseases such as cancer, this type of bomb already has an impact on panic in target populations. A wide area around the blast zone would also have to be evacuated for decontamination or abandoned altogether.
The Federation of American Scientists calculated that if a bomb containing a certain amount of radioactive material and common explosives were to explode on the edge of Manhattan in New York, the entire city would be uninhabitable for decades.
For this reason, "dirty bombs" are considered weapons of mass destruction.
However, they are not very reliable as weapons. In order for radioactive material from a dirty bomb to spread to the targeted area, it must be reduced to a powdery form. But if the particles are too fine or thrown in strong winds, they will spread too far, which lowers their damage potential.
Why did Russia accuse Kiev of considering using a 'dirty bomb'?
The US-based Institute for the Study of War (ISW) said that Russia's defense minister "likely sought to delay or suspend Western military aid to Ukraine and possibly weaken the NATO alliance through frightening speeches".
There was also speculation that Russia was planning to set off a dirty bomb in Ukraine and blame Ukrainian forces for it - something the ISW said it considered "unlikely".
Many military analysts say Russia would not be so reckless, given the damage a dirty bomb could do to its own troops and areas under its control in Ukraine.
Has any dirty bomb ever been used in the world?
Dhiren Barot was sentenced to 30 years in prison
There has never been a successful dirty bomb attack, but there have been attempts.
In 1996, rebels in Chechnya planted a bomb in Moscow's Izmailovo Park, containing dynamite and radioactive material. Intelligence services discovered its location and the bomb was defused.
In 1998, Chechnya's intelligence service found and defused a dirty bomb that had been placed near a railway line.
In 2002, José Padilla, a US citizen with ties to al-Qaeda, was arrested in Chicago on suspicion of planning a dirty bomb attack. He was sentenced to 21 years in prison.
In 2004, Dhiren Barot, a British citizen and a member of Al Qaeda, was arrested in London for planning terrorist attacks in the US and UK using a dirty bomb. He was arrested in 2006 and sentenced to 30 years in prison.
However, neither Padilla nor Barot got to start assembling their bombs before they were arrested.
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