Western countries have accused Russia of plotting to use a threat of a bomb laced with nuclear material as a pretext for escalation in Ukraine, as Moscow evacuated civilians from a southern city in anticipation of a major battle.
With Ukrainian forces advancing into Russian-occupied Kherson province, Russia's defence minister Sergei Shoigu phoned Western counterparts yesterday to tell them Moscow suspected Kyiv of planning to use a so-called "dirty bomb".
In a joint statement, the foreign ministers of France, Britain and the United States said they had all rejected the allegations and reaffirmed their support for Ukraine against Russia.
"Our countries made clear that we all reject Russia's transparently false allegations that Ukraine is preparing to use a dirty bomb on its own territory," they said.
"The world would see through any attempt to use this allegation as a pretext for escalation."
Later, the United States issued a warning to Moscow.
"We've been very clear with the Russians ... about the severe consequences that would result from nuclear use," State Department spokesman Ned Price said.
"There would be consequences for Russia whether it uses a dirty bomb or a nuclear bomb."
I spoke with my US 🇺🇸 and French 🇫🇷 counterparts, @SecBlinken and @MinColonna, last night. We have issued the following statement: https://t.co/TiluNH7yVG
— James Cleverly🇬🇧 (@JamesCleverly) October 24, 2022
In an overnight address, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said the Russian accusation was a sign Moscow was planning such an attack itself and would blame Ukraine.
"If Russia calls and says that Ukraine is allegedly preparing something, it means one thing: Russia has already prepared all this," Mr Zelensky said.
"So when today the Russian Minister of Defense organises a phone carousel and calls foreign ministers with stories about the so-called 'dirty' nuclear bomb, everyone understands everything well.
"Understands who is the source of everything dirty that can be imagined in this war."
Evacuation
Russia has ordered civilians to evacuate territory it controls on the western bank of the Dnipro River, where Ukrainian forces have been advancing since the start of this month shortly after Moscow claimed to have annexed the area.
A Russian defeat there would be one of Moscow's biggest setbacks of the war.
Kherson's regional capital is the only big city Russia has captured intact since the invasion in February, and its only foothold on the west bank of the Dnipro, which bisects Ukraine.
The province controls the gateway to Crimea, the peninsula Russia seized and claimed to annex in 2014.
The Russian-installed authorities in Kherson announced today that men who stay behind would have the option of joining a military self-defence unit.
Kyiv accuses Russia of press-ganging men in occupied areas into military formations, a war crime under the Geneva Conventions.
Since his forces suffered major battlefield defeats in September, President Vladimir Putin has escalated the war, calling up hundreds of thousands of reservists, announcing the annexation of occupied territory and repeatedly threatening to use nuclear weapons to defend Russian land.
This month, Russia has started a new campaign using long-range cruise missiles and Iranian-made drones to attack Ukraine's electric power and heat ahead of winter.
Russian state television is filled with talk shows featuring pundits who openly cheering attacks on Ukrainian civilian frastructure and call for ever tougher measures to eliminate what they describe as an illegitimate Ukrainian state.
On Monday, Russian state TV presenter Anton Krasovsky apologised for remarks in which he called for Ukrainian children to be drowned in rivers and burned alive in huts with the doors nailed shut.
He also joked that Ukrainian grandmothers were saving their funeral funds to pay Russian soldiers to rape them.
"Well, it happens: you're on air, you get carried away. And you can't stop," Mr Krasovsky said, adding he was "really embarrassed".
Mr Krasovsky was suspended from Russia's state-funded international channel RT, and Russia's Investigative Committee said it had ordered a report into his "sharp comments".
Ukraine's Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said Mr Krasovsky would be prosecuted some day for promoting genocide, and called on countries to ban RT.
Communication channels
Yesterday, a missile strike in Mykolaiv wiped out the top floor of an apartment block, sending shrapnel and debris across a plaza and into neighbouring buildings, Reuters witnessed. No fatalities were recorded.
"After the first blast, I tried to get out, but the door was stuck," said Oleksandr Mezinov, aged 50, who was woken from his bed by the blasts.
"After a minute or two, there was a second loud blast. Our door was blown into the corridor."
Yesterday, Ukraine's General Staff said anti-aircraft defences had shot down 12 of Russia's Iranian-made Shahed-136 attack drones in the past 24 hours.
Tehran denies supplying the weapons to Russia.
Ukraine's military said it was making gains in the south, taking over at least two villages it said Russia had abandoned.
Russia's defence ministry said that its forces had kept up attacks on Ukraine's energy and military infrastructure, destroyed a large ammunition depot in the central Cherkasy region, and repelled Ukrainian counter-offensives in the south and east.
These accounts could not be immediately independently verified.
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Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said the Russian attacks on energy infrastructure had struck on a "very wide" scale.
With the war about to start its ninth month and winter approaching, the potential for freezing misery loomed.
Volodymyr Kudritskiy, head of Ukraine's national energy company, Ukrenergo, said power had been restored to more than 1.5 million customers after mass weekend attacks on energy targets.
Moscow has acknowledged targeting energy infrastructure but denies targeting civilians in what it calls a "special military operation" in Ukraine.
Ukraine also accused Russia of hampering a deal on grain exports via the Black Sea, saying its ports were working only at 25% to 30% capacity.
The pact, brokered by the United Nations and Turkey in July, paved the way for Ukraine to resume grain exports from Black Sea ports that had been shut since Russia invaded.
