The IAEA will carry out “a verification” on the accusations of preparing a “dirty bomb”

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) will visit two Ukrainian sites “this week” at the request of kyiv, according to a statement, as Russian President Vladimir Putin accuses Ukraine of erasing evidence of preparations for a “dirty bomb”.

“The inspectors will carry out an independent verification (…) to detect any diversion of nuclear material”, explained Thursday the director general of the UN body, Rafael Grossi.

After speaking behind closed doors to the UN Security Council in New York, he told reporters that the conclusions of these inspections would be “very fast”, referring to a few “days”. The IAEA had announced earlier this week an inspection “in the coming days”, without further details.

Putin’s Unproven Accusations

The Agency reaffirmed Thursday having inspected one of the two places “a month ago”, stressing that “no undeclared nuclear activity had been found there”. Still, “we’re going to visit again,” looking for other types of material, Grossi said in New York. “Normally our inspections focus on direct nuclear material, enriched uranium, plutonium, thorium. In this case, it was mentioned certain isotopes, cesium and strontium” which could have been “reconverted”, he added.

Earlier in the day, Vladimir Putin had called for a mission “as soon as possible”. According to him, Ukraine wants to use a radioactive weapon “to be able to say later that it was Russia who carried out a nuclear strike”.

Russia “happy to be wrong”

A radiological bomb or “dirty bomb” is made up of conventional explosives surrounded by radioactive materials intended to be scattered into dust at the time of the explosion.

“We have told Director General Mr. Grossi to be vigilant, because these structures (the two that have been inspected), are not the only ones where this can happen,” the Security Council outlet said. Russian Ambassador to the UN Vassily Nebenzia, assuring that Russia would be “happy to be wrong”.

“We cannot start running hysterically to all the places where we can find a source of Cobalt 60”, used in particular in medicine, commented Rafael Grossi.