UN Team Is Inspecting Ukrainian Sites For Traces Of Alleged ‘Dirty Bomb’

The UN’s International Atomic Energy Agency Director General Rafael Grossi on Tuesday confirmed that a team of weapons inspectors is on the ground in Ukraine examining sites that Russia recently named in connection to an alleged Ukrainian ‘dirty bomb’ plot.

Russia’s UN ambassador Vassily Nebenzia submitted a formal letter to other UN Security Council members last week which charged Ukraine’s nuclear research facility and mining company was creating a bomb with radioactive material on orders from President Zelensky himself. Russia’s state news agency, RIA, had named the two sites as the Eastern Mineral Enrichment Plant in the central Dnipropetrovsk region and the Institute for Nuclear Research in Kiev.

The letter alleged that Ukrainian technicians “received direct orders from Zelenskyy’s regime to develop such a dirty bomb.” Kiev and its Western backers quickly condemned the claims as “transparently false”. 

According to the IAEA’s Grossi, “inspections had begun at two locations in Ukraine and would soon be completed. The inspections had been requested by Kyiv in the wake of the Russian allegations,” according to The Associated Press.  

The UN agency had on Sunday described the mission as follows: “The purpose of the safeguards visits is to detect any possible undeclared nuclear activities and material.”

The inspectors reportedly haven’t found anything, and the UN agency additionally briefed reporters on the following: 

The International Atomic Energy Agency has said the investigated sites “are under IAEA safeguards and have been visited regularly by IAEA inspectors,” whose mission is detecting undeclared nuclear activities and materials related to the development of dirty bombs.

“The IAEA inspected one of the two locations a month ago and no undeclared nuclear activities or materials were found there,” the agency said in a statement Monday.

Last month Russia began alleging that a ‘dirty bomb’ detonation, which would spread radioactive waste and potentially contaminate large urban areas, was being prepared by Ukrainian forces so that such a mass casualty WMD incident could be blamed on Moscow, in order to justify greater Western intervention.

The US last week pointed the finger at Moscow for allegedly preparing a ‘false flag’ event in Ukraine…

🇺🇸🇺🇦🇷🇺☢️⚛️There would be consequences for Russia if it uses a so-called “dirty bomb” or any other nuclear weapon, U.S. State Department spokesperson Ned Price said on Monday pic.twitter.com/5NlzdpKCsA

— AZ 🛰🌏🌍🌎 (@AZgeopolitics) October 25, 2022

Amid the false flag claims France ominously warned days ago that the crisis is “trending towards uncontrollable escalation” and urged the warring sides to find a diplomatic opening for peace talks.