Ukrainian President Volodymir Zelenskyy said during his nightly address Sunday that only Russia was capable of using nuclear weapons in Europe.
His criticism comes as a response to claims by Russian Minister of Defense Sergei Shoigu that Ukraine could detonate a “dirty” nuclear bomb.
“So when today the Russian Minister of Defense [Shoigu] organizes 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," Zelenskyy said in his nightly video message.
“Wherever Russia has brought death and degradation, we are restoring normal life,” Zelenskyy said. “Wherever Russia comes, it leaves behind mass graves, torture chambers, destroyed cities and villages, mined land, destroyed infrastructure and natural disasters.”
Russia's defense ministry said Shoigu voiced concern to his counterparts from the United States, Britain, France and Turkey about “possible Ukrainian provocations involving a ‘dirty bomb.’” A “dirty bomb” is a device that uses explosives to scatter radioactive waste. It doesn’t have the devastating effect of a nuclear explosion but could expose broad areas to radioactive contamination, The Associated Press reported.
Meanwhile, U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin had a follow-up call Sunday with Shoigu, the Department of Defense said. This is the second call between them in three days. According to the Pentagon, Austin rejected any pretext for Russian escalation and reaffirmed the value of continued communication amid “Russia’s unlawful and unjustified war against Ukraine.”
The White House National Security Council also issued a statement rejecting as false Shoigu's allegations that Ukraine is preparing to use a dirty bomb on its own territory. "The world would see through any attempt to use this allegation as a pretext for escalation," it said.
White House National Security Council spokesperson Adrienne Watson told VOA: "We reject reports of Minister Shoigu’s transparently false allegations that Ukraine is preparing to use a dirty bomb on its own territory. The world would see through any attempt to use this allegation as a pretext for escalation."
Also Sunday, a Russian missile attack smashed into a suburb of Mykolaiv in southern Ukraine.
While two apartment blocks were destroyed, no one was killed because most residents had already moved away after a similar attack in the vicinity six months ago, Reuters reported.
"All of the people who had small children decided to leave immediately" after the April attack, Svitlana, 46, told Reuters as she salvaged belongings from her glass-and-plaster strewn apartment. "The pensioners had also decided to leave."
The explosions in the Karabelnyi district of Mykolaiv, a ship-building center at the confluence of the Southern Buh and Dnipro rivers, continued a weekslong Russian aerial offensive that has targeted civilian infrastructure, Reuters reported.
Also Sunday, Zelenskyy said the electricity supply has been restored in all regions that were hit but Russian missiles Saturday.
The Russian attacks cut electricity to over 1.4 million Ukrainian households Saturday, according to Kyrylo Tymoshenko, a deputy chief of staff for Zelenskyy.
The attacks cut off power supplies to 672,000 households in Khmelnytskyi Oblast, 188,400 in Mykolaiv Oblast, 102,000 in Volyn Oblast, 242,000 in Cherkasy Oblast, 174,790 in Rivne Oblast, 61,913 in Kirovohrad Oblast, and 10,500 in Odesa Oblast, Tymoshenko said.
Zelenskyy said most of the Russian missiles and drones were being shot down, reiterating an earlier statement by the Ukrainian military that it had downed 18 out of 33 cruise missiles launched from the air and sea Saturday
“Of course, we don't yet have the technical ability to knock down 100% of the Russian missiles and strike drones. I am sure that, gradually, we will achieve that, with help from our partners," Zelenskyy said.
Russia has intensified its strikes on Ukraine's power stations, water supply systems, and other key infrastructure over the past two weeks.
The areas targeted by the latest strikes include Khmelnytskyi and Lutsk in the country’s west and the central city of Uman.
Khmelnytskyi, which was home to about 275,000 people before the war, was left with no electricity, shortly after local media reported several loud explosions Saturday, regional officials said.
Uman, which had about 100,000 residents before the war, was also plunged into darkness after a rocket hit a nearby power station.
In Lutsk, a city of 215,000, electricity had been partially knocked out after Russian missiles slammed into local energy facilities, according to local officials.
Authorities in Khmelnytskyi and Lutsk urged residents to store water, “in case it’s also gone.”
Airstrikes and power disruptions were also reported from Odesa in the south, the central city of Dnipro, and Zaporizhzhia in the country’s southeast.
The national energy company, Ukrenergo, continued to urge all Ukrainians to conserve energy.
RFE/RL’s Ukraine service, The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.
