Russia accuses United States of helping Ukraine build nuclear weapons
Russia has accused the United States of helping Ukraine develop nuclear weapons in an escalation in the diplomatic war but has not provided any proof.
Nikolai Patrushev, the secretary of Russia's Security Council, claimed US advisors were helping Kyiv develop biological and nuclear weapons, potentially raising the risk of nuclear war, according to state-run news organisation Ria Novosti.
Patrushev did not provide any evidence to back up his comment.
The US has denied previous Russian accusations that Washington is operating biowarfare labs in Ukraine, calling the claims "laughable" and suggesting Moscow may be laying the groundwork to use a chemical or biological weapon.
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Last week, Russia repeated its accusation that the US has been working with Ukrainian laboratories to develop biological weapons.
Such assertions in Russian media increased in the run-up to Moscow's invasion into Ukraine and were also made by foreign ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova.
US Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said: "The Russian accusations are absurd, they are laughable and you know, in the words of my Irish Catholic grandfather, a bunch of malarkey. There's nothing to it. It's classic Russian propaganda.
State Department spokesman Ned Price added Russia "is inventing false pretexts in an attempt to justify its own horrific actions in Ukraine."
White House press secretary Jen Psaki, citing what she called Russia's "false claims," wrote on Twitter: "It’s Russia that has a long and well-documented track record of using chemical weapons, including in attempted assassinations and poisoning of Putin’s political enemies like Alexey Navalny."
A Ukrainian presidential spokesperson said: "Ukraine strictly denies any such allegation."
Like many other countries, Ukraine has public health laboratories researching how to mitigate the threats of dangerous diseases affecting both animals and humans.
Its laboratories have received support from the US, European Union and World Health Organization.
The Pentagon's Biological Threat Reduction Program has been working with the Ukrainian government to ensure the security of pathogens and toxins stored in the laboratories.
Amid similar biowarfare accusations in 2020, the U.S. embassy in Kyiv issued a statement saying its involvement was to ensure "dangerous pathogens do not fall into the wrong hands."
A former US official, who is familiar with the cooperation between Kyiv and Washington, said the United States had helped convert several Ukrainian laboratories involved in the former Soviet Union's biological weapons program into public health facilities.
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Ukraine has said nearly 100 children have been killed since Vladimir Putin ordered his troops to invade.
In a virtual address to Canadian lawmakers on Tuesday, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said: "We have 97 children that died during this war.
Hundreds of schools have also been hit, the Ukraine Interfax news agency said, with over 400 being damaged - 59 being completely destroyed.
A nursery in Okhtyrka, 70 miles from Kharkiv, was destroyed when it was bombed on 25 February, just over 24 hours into the invasion.
Six people died after the Sonechko Nursery and Kindergarten was targeted, including seven-year-old Alisa Hlans and her grandfather, who is said to have been killed in front of her as he tried to rescue the youngster.
Russia has maintained only military targets are being hit as Putin's forces - but footage from the scenes of the attacks tell of a different reality.
