Ukraine’s defence minister says he thinks Russia is attempting to “blackmail” the world into negotiations by elevating the spectre of a unclean bomb.
Speaking to reporters in Kyiv, Oleksii Reznikov claimed the Russian authorities was attempting to distract from the failure of his nation’s army mobilisation, and in addition to cease Western nations from suppling armaments and tools to Ukraine.
Earlier this week, Sergei Shoigu, the Russian defence minister, claimed Ukraine was getting ready to make use of a soiled bomb (a mixture of explosive and radioactive materials) by itself territory as a method of discrediting Russia.
He introduced no proof and his declare was instantly denied by Ukraine, Britain, America and NATO, amongst others.
Ukraine newest information: Putin ‘will not use nukes’ – as US points warning and Russia worries about anti-war saboteurs
Now Mr Reznikov has claimed that Russia‘s ambition is solely to create a way of hysteria as a precursor to negotiations that, presumably, would enable Russia to maintain land it has seized illegally.
“You can try to hear them – Lavrov, Shoigu and others,” mentioned Mr Reznikov.
“All Kremlin gangsters trying to deliver [the message] to your capitals that they are ready for negotiation.
“It’s fascinating as a result of they see that the mobilisation marketing campaign is a giant fail for them. They’re looking for a brand new resolution for his or her pursuits.
“And I think that they’re trying to stop your countries from supporting Ukraine, to stop delivering new weaponry, to stop making Ukraine more efficient.”
When requested about the potential of a negotiated settlement, he instructed Sky News that that there was to be “no bargaining nor any payment by the land to keep face for the Kremlin”.
But he added {that a} deal was potential in all probability through the first seven years after the occupation, citing the British-Chinese settlement over Hong Kong as a mannequin which may have labored.
“But on this moment, no,” he mentioned. “We have an absolutely understandable plan to liberate all our territories. It’s clear.”
Mr Reznikov additionally prompt that Russia might have taken radioactive materials from both Chernobyl or Zaporizhzhia nuclear crops to make use of within the building of a unclean bomb, a prospect that he mentioned “worried” him.
He mentioned he did not assume Russia would use nuclear weapons, largely due to the fury it could provoke from nations resembling India and China. And he repeated his name for worldwide companions to provide Ukraine with extra air defence methods as an pressing precedence.
Source: information.sky.com”