Russia is what it accuses others of: Zelenskyy denies Russia's claims of Ukraine planning chemical attacks

Russia had earlier accused Ukraine of developing weapons of destruction. However, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has denied all such allegations. Here's what Zelenskyy said in his address to the nation.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy denied Russia's accusations that Ukraine is planning chemical attacks. "Ukraine did not develop any bio-chemical weapons or other types of weapons of mass destruction," Zelenskyy was quoted by reports as saying.

In his address to the nation, Zelenskyy said, "I am the President of an adequate country and an adequate people. And the father of two children. No chemical or any other weapons of mass destruction were developed on my land. The whole world knows this,"

"And if Russia does something similar against us, it will receive the most severe sanctions response," Zelenskyy said.

Zelenskyy's statement came after Russian media reported that Ukraine was close to building a plutonium-based "dirty bomb" nuclear weapon. These reports cited an unnamed source who gave no evidence to support the claim.

"Ukraine was developing nuclear weapons at the destroyed Chernobyl nuclear power plant that was shut down in 2000," Russian news agencies had quoted "a representative of a competent body" as saying last week.

Refuting these allegations, Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Friday, "This worries me very much...If you do something like that against us, you will receive the most severe sanctions."

Earlier, the Ukraine government had said it has no plans to rejoin the nuclear club, having given up its nuclear arms in 1994 following the break-up of the Soviet Union.