Such a message intensified this week in Russian media and anonymous Telegram channels controlled by the Kremlin.

The process of negotiations with Great Britain allegedly regarding the transfer of nuclear weapons to Ukraine to deter Russia has failed. Because of this, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy ordered to gather of all nuclear scientists in Ukraine as soon as possible to create a "dirty" nuclear bomb. Messages that Ukraine was "preparing" the so-called "dirty atomic bomb" were actively spreading on the eve of Russia's full-scale war against Ukraine.

This was also indicated among the reasons for Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Later, Russian propaganda spread the thesis that Kyiv was trying to turn the plant into a "dirty" nuclear bomb by shelling the Zaporizhzhia NPP, and that the US was allegedly interested in having a "dirty" bomb in Ukraine.

There was also an option that Ukrainian scientists were already working on the components of a "dirty" bomb directly near the Russian border. A "dirty bomb" is a type of "radiological dispersal device in which a conventional explosive, such as dynamite, is combined with radioactive material. Such bombs don`t release enough radiation to kill people or cause serious illness.

However, the explosion of such a bomb can cause fear and panic, pollute the space, and require expensive cleanup. Such bombs are considered to be weapons of terrorist groups rather than armies. "Ukraine doesn`t have nuclear weapons and doesn`t conduct any work on their creation/acquisition. We are a responsible member of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons," Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba wrote on his Twitter account. The Center for Combating Disinformation drew attention to the fact that Ukraine has nowhere to get uranium, and plutonium was produced by the reactors of the Chornobyl nuclear power plant and such work has not been carried out for a quarter of a century, therefore statements about the creation of a "dirty nuclear bomb" have no basis.

At the same time, members of the National Commission for Radiation Protection of the Population of Ukraine, Anatoliy Nosovskyy and Viktor Dolin, reported in an interview with Science magazine that during the occupation of the Chornobyl nuclear power plant by Russian troops, a barbaric raid was carried out on the Ekocentr radiation monitoring laboratory, and it was looted. According to scientists, in the laboratory, the Russians could extract radioactive isotopes that were used to calibrate devices and the remains of radioactive waste. "These materials can be mixed with conventional explosives to form a 'dirty bomb' that spreads pollution over a large area," Nosovskyy said.