Starcast
Join the waitlist
Radioactive Russian Drones - A Conversation with Vitaly Shevchenko
Coming soon to iPhone. Already have it? “Listen in Starcast” takes you straight there.
On this episode
About this episode
Vitaly Shevchenko of BBC Monitoring joins Natia Seskuria to explore the implications of a radiation warning found on a downed Russian drone. In April 2026, Ukrainian air defences shot down a modified Russian Geran-2 strike drone near Chernihiv, and investigators found a radiation warning label on the warhead, recording gamma readings far above natural background levels. Within hours the story spread internationally, often described as Russia deploying radioactive weapons or a dirty bomb. Ukrainian investigators say the drone was carrying an R-60 air-to-air missile fitted with a depleted uranium fragmentation element, a modification Russia appears to be using to threaten Ukrainian aircraft…