Deadly Russian Malice

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy appears on screens as he speaks via a video link at the opening session of the International Crimea Platform Parliamentary summit, organized by Ukraine and Croatia, in Zagreb, on Tuesday. (Damir Sencar/AFP/Getty Images)

"Our countries made clear that we all reject Russia'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."

France, Britain, United States joint statement

 

"[The aim of a] dirty bomb [attack by Ukraine would be to blame the resulting radioactive contamination on Russia by accusing Moscow of detonating a low-grade nuclear weapon]."

"The aim of the provocation would be to accuse Russia of using a weapon of mass destruction in the Ukrainian military theatre and by that means to launch a powerful anti-Russian campaign in the world."

Russian Defence Ministry

"If Russia calls and says that Ukraine is allegedly preparing something, it means one thing: Russia has already prepared all this."

"So when today the Russian Minister of Defence organizes a phone carousel and calls foreign ministers with stories about the so-called 'dirty' nuclear bomb, everyone understands who is the source of everything dirty that can be imagined in this war."

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy

Ukrainian National Guard soldiers fire at Russian positions with a mortar near Kharkiv, Ukraine, on Tuesday. (Andrii Marienko/The Associated Press)

Ukrainian forces are advancing toward the Dnipro River, a counteroffensive to retake Kherson the province and the city, from Russian occupation. All the more disconcerting to the Kremlin in the wake of its announcement of the annexation of the area along with three other south-eastern areas of Ukraine. Following hard on claims that those four provinces are Russian territory, Moscow advised the world and Ukraine in particular, that any action taken to recover the territory would be construed as an 'act of war' against Russia.\, with predictble consequences including nuclear.

 

A sanctimonious charge so arse-backwardly absurd it would make a good script for a theatrical comedy lampooning Russia, if it were not so obviously the work of a land-grabbing, nation-destroying, anti-human rights national government whose invasion exploits are the stuff of nightmares. A self-righteousness so deranged that the Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu had the unmitigated call to  to call his counterpart ministers of France, Britain and the United States to inform them of an odious plot Ukraine was engaging in.

In fact it became almost instantly transparent that the revelation was in reverse order; that Russia is scheming to make use of a radioactive bomb of limited power and range that would be used as 'evidence' of Ukraine's willingness to begin a nuclear war between Russia and NATO, spurring Russia to self-protection, to respond in kind. Not Russia's fault, goes the plotline, if the 'neo-Nazi' government of Ukraine provoked Russia to such an extent it had little option but to reciprocate.

In a follow-up call with Russia's military Chief of General Staff Valery Gerasimov, British Chief of Defence Staff Tony Radakin made it quite clear his government rejected the Russian allegations, even while taking pains to convey the sensible message that both sides continue to maintain open channels of communication as a vital commitment.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, when asked to comment on Western skepticism of Russia's Ukraine accusations, responded "their disbelief doesn't mean there's no threat. The threat is evident." In ostensible response to which Moscow has ordered civilian evacuation of the territory in advance of the Ukrainian forces' advance. Should Russia suffer a defeat in Kherson it would represent a massive setback of the Russian 'special military invasion' agenda.

The west bank of the Dnipro River represents Russia's sole foothold of the area. That area where the Dnipro i\bisects Ukraine is a gateway to the Crimean peninsula, annexed by Russia in 2014.  

Energoatom, Ukraine's state nuclear plant operator, said it assumes ... the Russians to be preparing a terrorist act using nuclear materials and radioactive waste stored at [the plant]. It said there were 174 containers at the plant's dry spent fuel storage facility, each of them containing 24 assemblies of spent nuclear fuel. 

"Destruction of these containers as a result of explosion will lead to a radiation accident and radiation contamination of several hundred square kilometres of the adjacent territory."

People shelter inside a subway station during a Russian missile attack in Kyiv on Tuesday. (Vladyslav Musiienko/Reuters)

Russian War Crimes in Ukraine

 

"We’re literally training kids how to put on tourniquets because enough people wanted the rest of their family to know how to take care of them in case they were injured, or their kid was the only one left alive in a building."

"These people feel like they’re facing an existential threat, and they want something better for their kids — they want their kids to survive."

"[Now, though], frostbite, or cold, or malnutrition, or even just GI [gastrointestinal] related illness that goes prolonged and untreated [are becoming more common, likely due to lapses in critical infrastructure," 

"Before Russia ramped up the attacks on civilian infrastructure], we would see military-aged males, injured in combat with blast and shrapnel injuries. You would occasionally see the civilian population — the usual spread, women, children, and elderly — that may have gotten hit with just a missile, or something that hit a civilian area. Or, if it was a town that was being attacked by the Russians and they were trying to obliterate everything within the town, then it was just a spread of everybody coming in with blast and shrapnel and burn injuries."

"I think we’re starting to see a much larger scale of problems from a health standpoint that may not be a direct blast, penetrating injuries, burn injuries — it’s now population-wide in terms of loss of infrastructure problems, so I think that’s the more noticeable impact of what’s been going on lately."

"[Many victims now look like] the elderly grandmother who’s sitting in her apartment, just trying to wait out the war [and] suddenly has no power for a week, or suddenly has no clean water."

Aaron Epstein, the president of the Global Surgical and Medical Support Group 

 

"The subject matter [and] technical expertise leaves [so there’s no one to repair the damaged infrastructure. Ukrainian cities have demonstrated quite a bit of resilience so far, repairing damaged facilities and restoring access to critical services as quickly as possible], but as this goes on it will be interesting to see what continuing toll is going to be on the response."

"Critical infrastructure or civilian objects should not be targeted under the law of armed conflict, under IHL [But services and facilities that civilians rely on — like a power station] can be dual-use, they can be used by the military and then they could qualify as a military objective under IHL because by their nature and location, they’re making a contribution to military action.”

"[Military actors] should not be trying to degrade critical infrastructure, unless that’s part of your war strategy, [but if that’s the case], you run afoul of the legal principles."

Sahr Muhammadally, director for MENA & South Asia at Center for Civilians in Conflict

Ukrainian civilians queue for humanitarian aid provided by the Red Cross as people try to survive amid the wave of Russia’s missile strikes in Sviatohiersk, Donetsk Oblast, Ukraine on October 20, 2022.

Wolfgang Schwan/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images

 

Now that it has become clear that Vladimir Putin's military strategy to bring Ukraine to its knees -- while the Ukrainian military has been ousting Russian troops from occupied territories and is fast moving in on Kherson -- by continuing and intensifying its illegal aerial bombardments of the country's critical infrastructure; its power stations, electrical grids, potable water supply, bombing civilian targets, destroying areas right across the vast geography of Ukraine -- there are new warnings that a massive dam may be the next target.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy once again is calling on the West, this time to address Russia directly about the severe inadvisability of blowing up the immense Nova Kakhovka dam holding back a reservoir dominating much of southern Ukraine. Russian forces have performed the prelininary work in planting explosives within the dam. "Now everyone in the world must act powerfully and quickly to prevent a new Russian terrorist attack. Destroying the dam would mean a large-scale disaster", Mr.Zelenskyy warned.

Russia did some counter-warning of its own, accusing Kyiv of firing rockets at the dam, planning ultimately to destroy it; a sign according to Ukrainian officials that Moscow may take the initiative to blow it  up and then place the blame with Kyiv. It's a tried-and-untrue method that finds favour with the Kremlin; accuse Ukraine of responsibility for the most brazen war crimes against its own people as well as Russians, that Russia itself has been engaged with.

 

A van moves along a dark street during electricity shortage, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Mykolaiv, Ukraine October 20, 2022. REUTERS/Valentyn Ogirenko

Bursting the dam  could see a wall of water flooding settlements below, toward the city of Kherson. The Dnipro River is several kilometres wide in places. The canal system irrigating much of southern Ukraine that includes Crimea would also be ruined. Further upriver, Ukrainian historians document Soviet sappers having dynamited another huge dam with the retreat of their troops, causing floods that swept away villages and killed thousands of people, during the Second World War.

The potential of such widespread destruction, pointed out President Zelenskyy would have results "exactly the same as the use of weapons of mass destruction". Ukrainian forces are advancing along the river's west bank with the intention of regaining Kherson city and encircling thousands of Russian troops. Russia's newly appointed commander Sergei Srovikin, infamous for his command of the Russian aerial bombardment in Syria, against the regime's opponents, spoke of the situation in Kherson as "already difficult" leading Russia to "not ruling out difficult decisions".

In the area, Ukrainian troops have identified a secton of the front north of Kherson with a noticeable reduction in shellfire from Ruissian positions, about four kilometres away. Speculation among them is that the droppoff in shooting and absence of armour indicate a shortage of ammunition and equipment for Russia. "They've been shooting less starting about three weks ago. And their drones are less active", pointed out Myhailo, a soldier deployed in the area.

Vladimir Putin began a campaign of attacks with the use of cruise missiles and Iranian drones earlier in the month to destroy Ukraine's power supply before the onset of winter. Ukraine's energy infrastructure has also come under fire, but Moscow will not admit to its targeting of civilians; the aim, they claim of the "special military operation" is to degrade Ukraine's military. Calls countrywide to reduce electricity consumption alerted Ukrainians to straitened conditions ahead.

Russian President Vladimir Putin visits a training centre of the Western Military District for mobilised reservists along with Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu and Deputy Commander of the Airborne Troops Anatoly Kontsevoy, in Ryazan Region, Russia October 20, 2022. Russian Defence Ministry/Handout via REUTERS