Live Updates | Russia-Ukraine-War – ABC News

NEW DELHI — India’s defense minister says that Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu briefed him on the evolving situation in Ukraine, including his concerns about the use of a “dirty bomb.”

Defense Minister Rajnath Singh said in a tweet after his phone conversation with Shoigu on Wednesday that “I reiterated India’s position on the need to to pursue the path of dialogue an diplomacy for an early resolution of the conflict.”

He added 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 Press Trust of India news agency said the call was on the initiative of the Russian defense minister.

Moscow has repeatedly made the unfounded claim that Ukraine is preparing to use a “dirty bomb,” an explosive devise with radioactive material, on its own territory. Western officials have dismissed the claim as misinformation possibly designed as a pretext for Russia to justify its own military escalation.

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KEY DEVELOPMENTS:

— Putin scrambles to boost weapons production for Ukraine war

— Opposition leader says Belarus shouldn’t fight for Russia

— Brutal Russian general led troops that killed civilians

— Russia seeks UN probe of claims on Ukraine biological labs

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OTHER DEVELOPMENTS:

BRUSSELS — NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg on Wednesday rejected Russia’s claims that Ukraine might be preparing to use a radiological “dirty bomb.”

“This is absurd. Allies reject this blatantly false accusation, and Russia must not use false pretexts to escalate the war further,” Stoltenberg told reporters at NATO headquarters in Brussels.

Russian President Vladimir Putin repeated the claim on Wednesday., saying “We know about the plans to use the so-called dirty bomb for provocations.”

Moscow’s statements about an alleged “dirty bomb” followed Putin’s warning last month about his readiness to use “all means available” to fend off attacks on Russia’s territory.

NATO’s Stoltenberg underlined that the 30-nation military organization “will not be intimidated or deterred from supporting Ukraine’s right to self-defense for as long as it takes.”

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MOSCOW — The Kremlin said that Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday monitored drills of the country’s strategic nuclear forces involving multiple practice launches of ballistic and cruise missiles.

Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu reported to Putin that the drills were intended to simulate a “massive nuclear strike” by Russia in retaliation to a nuclear attack on Russia. The exercise comes amid soaring Russia-West tensions over Moscow’s action in Ukraine.

The Kremlin said in a statement that all tasks set for the exercise were fulfilled and all the missiles that were test-fired reached their designated targets.

Washington has said that Moscow informed it about Wednesday’s drills in advance.

The Russian exercise comes amid Moscow’s warnings of a purported Ukrainian plot to detonate a dirty bomb radioactive device in a false flag attack to blame Russia, a claim strongly rejected by Ukraine and its allies.

The Russian exercise comes amid Moscow’s warnings of a purported Ukrainian plot to detonate a dirty bomb radioactive device in a false flag attack to blame Russia, a claim strongly rejected by Ukraine and its allies.

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MOSCOW — Russia’s defense minister has called his counterparts from India and China to convey Moscow’s concern about a purported Ukrainian plan to use an explosive device that scatters radiation, repeating a claim that has been refuted by Ukraine and the West.

The Russian Defense Ministry said Sergei Shoigu voiced Moscow’s concern about “possible Ukrainian provocations involving a “dirty bomb’” when he spoke with India’s Rajnath Singh and China’s Wei Fenghe.

The conversations followed calls with British, French, Turkish and U.S. officials Sunday in which Shoigu made the same claim. The governments of Britain, France and the United States rejected it as “transparently false.”

Despite the Western dismissals, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov insisted Moscow has “information” showing Ukraine could use of a dirty bomb.

A dirty bomb uses explosives to scatter radioactive waste in an effort to sow terror. Such weapons don’t have the devastating destruction of a nuclear explosion, but could expose broad areas to radioactive contamination.

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KYIV, Ukraine — Ukrainian officials say Russia has targeted more than 40 towns around Ukraine over the past day, killing at least two more people and sustaining the terror that forces people into air raid shelters each night.

The general staff of the Ukrainian armed forces said Wednesday that Russian forces launched five rockets, 30 air strikes and more than 100 multiple-launch rocket system attacks on Ukrainian targets.

The developments come as fears are growing that Russia, facing setbacks on the battlefield, could try to detonate a so-called dirty bomb, which uses explosives to scatter radioactive waste in an effort to sow terror.

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Follow AP’s coverage of the war in Ukraine: https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine