Amid escalating tension between war torn Ukraine and Russia, Indian Defence minister Rajnath Singh held deliberations with his Russian counterpart, Sergei Shoigu and expressed his concerns over “possible provocations through use of dirty bomb”.

In his conversation Rajnath Singh pointed out 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 Indian defence minister also suggested to his counterpart to resolve the ongoing crisis through dialogue and diplomacy. Ukraine and Russia have been at war since February this year.

The telephone call between the two ministers took place at the initiative of the Russian Defence Minister, Shoigu.

Following Russian minister’s comments about the “provocation by the use of dirty bombs”, a fresh advisory has been issued by the Indian embassy in Ukraine. The advisory has asked the Indian citizens to leave the war-torn country as soon as possible.  And has urged the Indians to opt for all available means and to contact their officials if they needed help.

Dirty Bomb threats by both Ukraine and Russia

Both the countries are accusing each other of planning to drop dirty bombs. Even the US and European countries supporting Ukraine have been propagating against Russia of plans for usage of dirty bombs.

Earlier in the week, Embassy of Russia, New Delhi, in a media note had stated that the Ministry of Defence of the Russian Federation had information about Kiev regime’s plans to commit a provocation by exploding the so-called ‘dirty bomb’ or low-power nuclear warhead.

The Ukraine President Zelensky had earlier this year on February 19th at the Munich Security Conference announced his intention to re-establish his country as a nuclear-armed State. He has also called on NATO countries to launch a strike at Russia since the start of the special military operation.

Possibility of Radiation Threat around the Zaporozhye nuclear power plant

This is the largest nuclear plant in Europe and since February 24, the territory around the nuclear plant has suffered 39 fire attacks. These attacks were launched by the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU). And also include 10 attacks by unmanned aerial vehicles and also 29 by different artillery systems.

If the plant is hit by large calibre artillery shells the release of radioactive substances will have an impact on the entire Europe.

Dirty Bomb

The `dirty Bomb’ has a container which has radioactive isotopes and explosive charge.  And for exploding the charge, the container is to be destroyed. The radioactive substance is to be pulverised by a blast wave. This blast wave produces radioactive contamination which covers large areas almost several thousands of square meters and can cause radiation morbidity.

According to reports Uranium oxide that forms part of spent fuel elements which are stored can be then used as the radioactive substance.