WATCH: White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre calls Russia allegation of dirty bomb ‘transparently false’

Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu delivered a stark warning by to his British, French, Turkish and U.S. counterparts over the weekend that Ukrainian forces were preparing a “provocation” involving a radioactive device — a so-called dirty bomb. Britain, France, and the United States rejected that claim as “transparently false.”

A dirty bomb uses explosives to scatter radioactive waste in an effort to sow terror. Such weapons don’t have the devastating destruction of a nuclear explosion, but could expose broad areas to radioactive contamination.

Ukraine has rejected Moscow’s claims as an attempt to distract attention from its own plans to detonate a dirty bomb.

The White House on Monday again underscored that the Russian allegations were false.

“We reject Russia’s transparently false allegation that Ukraine is preparing to use a dirty bomb on its own territory,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said.

“We are concerned about the false allegation being used as a pretext for further escalation. And we’ve made clear we reject these allegations.”

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy suggested that Moscow itself was setting the stage for deploying a radioactive device on Ukrainian soil.

The country’s foreign minister, Dmytro Kuleba, said Monday he has urged the United Nations’ nuclear watchdog to immediately send an inspection team to the country to dispel Moscow’s claims. The International Atomic Energy Agency said in response that it was preparing “safeguards visits” in the coming days.