• A wave of attacks dealt another blow to Ukraine’s vulnerable power grid Saturday, leaving more than 1.5 million customers in the dark, according to a Kyiv official.
• Russia-installed leaders in Kherson stepped up their evacuation effort, urging all residents to cross a key river. Ukraine says Russia is generating “hysteria” over the advancing counteroffensive.
• The United Nations’ human rights office says well over 6,000 civilians have been killed in the war. Power outages could imperil more Ukrainians this winter.

Russia's purported fears of Ukraine using a dirty bomb are "transparently false," US official says

Russian defense minister Sergei Shoigu and US defense secretary Lloyd Austin spoke by phone Sunday, the second call in three days between the two top officials.

The Russian Ministry of Defense said the two discussed the situation in Ukraine but did not provide further details. It was Shoigu who initiated the phone call to Austin, according to a senior US administration official.

A second official familiar with the conversation said Shoigu alleged Ukrainians are planning to use a so-called dirty bomb — a weapon combining conventional explosions and uranium. That claim, which the Kremlin has amplified in recent days, has been strongly refuted by the US, Ukraine and United Kingdom as a Russian false flag operation.

Shoigu made similar comments to his French and British counterparts as well.

“We reject reports of Minister Shoigu’s transparently false allegations that...

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