Russia holds nuclear drills as Nato rejects ‘dirty bomb’ claims against Ukraine

Russia has held drills to simulate a “massive” retaliatory nuclear strike on an enemy, as Nato dismissed Moscow’s claim that Ukraine is planning to detonate a “dirty bomb” and warned that alliance members would not be intimidated into ending their support for Kyiv.

The Kremlin said Russian president Vladimir Putin oversaw the test firing on Wednesday of intercontinental ballistic missiles and cruise missiles from submarines, bomber aircraft and a base near the Arctic Circle, and that “all tasks were completed in full”.

Russian defence minister Sergei Shoigu reported to Mr Putin that “in accordance with the Russian armed forces’ training schedule, an exercise is being held to practice command and control of the armed forces, including the tasks of conducting a massive nuclear strike by the strategic nuclear forces in retaliation to an enemy’s nuclear strike”.

Mr Putin also spoke to the chiefs of security agencies from several ex-Soviet states and Mr Shoigu talked to the defence ministers of China and India, and both Russian officials repeated claims that Ukraine planned to detonate a dirty bomb – a combination of conventional explosives and radioactive material – and to blame Moscow for the incident.

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Kyiv and the West say the allegation is groundless, but it has added to international concerns that were stoked by Russia’s threat to use all the weapons in its arsenal – possibly including nuclear missiles – to stop Ukraine retaking territory that Moscow claims to have annexed.

According to his office, Indian defence minister Rajnath Singh told Mr Shoigu that “the nuclear option should not be resorted to by any side, as the prospect of the usage of nuclear or radiological weapons goes against the basic tenets of humanity”.

The International Atomic Anergy Agency has accepted Kyiv’s request to send experts to check on its nuclear sites in a bid to disprove Russia’s allegations, and said its inspectors are likely to start work in Ukraine in the coming days.

Nato secretary general Jens Stoltenberg dismissed Moscow’s claims as “absurd” on Wednesday, and said alliance members “reject these blatantly false accusations and Russia must not use false pretexts to escalate the war further”.

“Nato will not be intimidated or deterred from supporting Ukraine’s right to self-defence for as long as it takes. Every week Ukraine’s forces are getting stronger and better equipped,” he added.

“We know that what Ukraine can achieve at the negotiating table is totally dependent on its strength on the battlefield. So we need to strengthen their hand … by providing military support … to maximise the likelihood of an outcome that’s acceptable for Ukraine and minimise the time before we get there.”

Ukraine says its military has retaken scores of settlements in the southeastern Kherson region in recent weeks, and occupation officials in the province have told residents to evacuate to the eastern bank of the Dnieper river to help Russian troops to try to hold the area and Kherson city, the provincial capital.

“With Kherson everything is clear. The Russians are replenishing, strengthening their grouping there,” said Oleksiy Arestovych, an adviser to Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy. “It means that nobody is preparing to withdraw. On the contrary, the heaviest of battles is going to take place for Kherson,” he added.