Ukraine-Russia war highlights | UN nuclear watchdog says no evidence of ‘dirty bomb’ claim

Ukraine’s foreign minister, Dmytro Kuleba, has reacted strongly to the results of the nuclear inspection, tweeting that Russia “has confirmed its status of the world’s top liar”. "The IAEA has checked three Ukrainian facilities in focus of Russian disinfo and found no evidence of any ‘dirty bombs’. I thank Rafael Mariano Grossi for IAEA’s excellent and prompt cooperation which helped counter Russian falsehoods. Russia has confirmed its status of the world’s top liar," he tweeted.

The United Nations nuclear watchdog said on Thursday it had found no sign of undeclared nuclear activity at three sites in Ukraine that it inspected at Kyiv’s request, in response to Russian allegations that work was being done on a “dirty bomb”.

“Our technical and scientific evaluation of the results we have so far did not show any sign of undeclared nuclear activities and materials at these three locations,” Reuters reports the International Atomic Energy Agency said in a statement, adding that environmental samples taken would be analysed.

The White House has accused North Korea of covertly shipping a “significant number” of artillery shells to Russia in support of its invasion of Ukraine amid mounting evidence of shortages for key weapons systems. US National security council spokesperson John Kirby said the US believed North Korea “is covertly supplying” the ammunition to Russia and “trying to make it appear as though they are being sent to countries in the Middle East or north Africa”.
 

Russian attacks in the Donetsk oblast and Kharkiv oblast have killed at least five civilians in the past day, officials said. In Donetsk, Russian forces killed three civilians in Bakhmut and one in Avdiivka, two strategically placed towns in Ukraine’s industrial heartland of Donbas, said Pavlo Kyrylenko, the governor of Donetsk oblast.

Russian and pro-Russia separatist soldiers to be freed in swap with Kyiv, according to an eastern Ukraine separatist leader. The swap is part of a series of steps taken by the local administrations after Ukraine mounted their counter-offensive measures.

The Kremlin said that they may end up not extending the Black Sea grain deal beyond November 19. “Before making a decision on an extension, we will need to give an overall assessment of the effectiveness of the deal," President Vladimir Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters as six grain ships left the Ukrainian ports.