The UK and France are also considering a radioactive "dirty bomb" as an option for Kiev, the SVR service has claimed

The UK and France are discussing the possible secret transfer of a nuclear weapon to Ukraine, Russia's Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) said on Tuesday.

According to the agency, British and French officials are considering the "covert transfer of relevant European-made components, equipment, and technologies to Ukraine," and are laying the groundwork for an information campaign that would misrepresent the nuclear capacity as domestically-developed.

The SVR claimed that another option under consideration is to provide Ukraine with a French TN 75 warhead, used in the nation's submarine-launched ballistic missiles. It added that Ukraine could also be encouraged to build a 'dirty bomb' - a conventional explosive device laden with radioactive materials designed to cause prolonged contamination of a territory.

"Kiev would be able to aspire to more advantageous terms of ceasing the hostilities if it possesses a nuclear or at least a so-called 'dirty' bomb," the SVR said in a statement. It added that Germany "has prudently refused to take part in this dangerous venture."

Officials in London and Paris appear to be losing "touch with reality," the agency said, warning that responsibility for such a reckless operation would fall on them.

Ukraine has long argued that it gave up its nuclear arsenal in exchange for security guarantees that later proved worthless. While a significant portion of Soviet nuclear forces were stationed in Ukraine, Kiev never controlled the missiles.

The 1994 Budapest Memorandums provided assurances - but not legally binding guarantees - to Ukraine, Belarus, and Kazakhstan that their territorial integrity would be respected after transferring Soviet nuclear weapons to Russia. Ukraine's Vladimir Zelensky suggested Kiev could reconsider its non-nuclear status at the 2022 Munich Security Conference, shortly before the conflict with Russia escalated.

Moscow argues that after the 2014 Western-backed coup in Kiev, Ukraine's new authorities breached the neutrality pledge underpinning its post-Soviet independence by making NATO membership a key foreign policy goal.