Ukraine now developing nuclear arms with US help, claims Russia

Russia is blaming Ukraine for developing nuclear capabilities in cooperation with the US, adding to its previous claims of its neighbor developing biological weapons in US-backed research labs in Ukraine.

The claims weren't backed by any evidence or an explanation on how the besieged country could suddenly start developing functioning nuclear arms.

"The creation of nuclear weapons by Ukraine would threaten the security of the whole world and provoke the outbreak of a nuclear war; Russia could not allow uncontrolled Ukrainian nationalists to have them," Russian Federation Security Council Secretary Nikolai Patrushev said.

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"It has become obvious that it is the American advisers who encourage and help the Kyiv regime in the creation of biological and nuclear weapons," Patrushev said in Grozny at a meeting on Tuesday to ensuring the national security of the Russian Federation in the North Caucasian Federal District.

"Ukraine has everything for this – Competencies, technologies, raw materials, means of delivery," he said.

"A large number of foreign consultants and advisors, based in Ukraine, represent a new threat to Russia's security in combination with biological and nuclear arms," Patrushev said, without providing evidence to back up his statement.

NATO is concerned Russia might use chemical weapons in a "false flag" attack as part of its invasion of Ukraine, Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said on Tuesday.

"We are concerned Moscow could stage a false flag operation in Ukraine, possibly with chemical weapons," Stoltenberg told a press conference.

The United States on March 9 denied Russian accusations that it was operating biowarfare labs in Ukraine, calling the claims "laughable" and suggesting Moscow may be laying the groundwork to use a chemical or biological weapon itself.

Russia has already blamed Ukraine for intentionally sabotaging a chemical plant in Donetsk, claiming it has caused toxic gas to be released to nearby civilian settlements. These allegations were not corroborated by anyone but Russian media outlets.