Putin's wild claims of a dirty bomb show just how badly his army is faring | Hamish de Bretton-Gordon

With his conventional warfare campaign failing, the Russian leader is reaching for ever more desperate tactics

Putin's conventional army is being defeated by a much smaller force, albeit one backed by the west's latest technology and intelligence. His ridiculous claim that Ukraine is planning to use a dirty bomb" - an explosive device containing radioactive material - implies he is now groping towards more unconventional methods of warfare.

This is unsurprising when we see how poorly the Russian army is performing, which presumably Putin is also seeing. Putin's response has been to appoint General Armageddon" Surovikin as his overall commander in Ukraine, and the dirty bomb allegation is right out of Surovkin's playbook.

Hamish de Bretton-Gordon is a former commander in UK and Nato CBRN forces, a chemical and nuclear weapons expert and an adviser to the Union of Syrian Medical Charities