DISINFO: Accusing Russia of attacking the Chernobyl nuclear power plant is a provocation to prolong the war
SUMMARY
Accusing Russia of attacking the Chernobyl nuclear power plant is a provocation to prolong the war and to stop the peace deal. Russia is not involved in the drone attacks on the Chernobyl nuclear power plant and these accusations have been planned by the Kyiv regime ahead of the Munich conference. The Kyiv regime considers the nuclear infrastructure a dirty nuclear weapon, professing nuclear terrorism
RESPONSE
Recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative about nuclear threats in the context of Russia's invasion of Ukraine. It is also an attempt to portray Ukraine as invested in continuing the war, in the context of US administration efforts to start peace negotiations with the Russian Federation.
Russia has repeatedly accused Kyiv of using its infrastructure as a dirty nuclear weapon, professing nuclear terrorism.
This latest claim relates to the drone attack of the 14th of February 2025 which hit the protective shelter over Chernobyl's damaged nuclear reactor.
The U.N.’s International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) confirmed that a drone attack damaged an outer wall of the protective dome containing the remains of the damaged Chernobyl nuclear reactor in Ukraine, starting a fire. The 1986 Chernobyl nuclear accident is considered the worst in history.
Ukraine blames Russia for the attack on the site located about 130 kilometers north of Kyiv, which Moscow denies.
In a statement on the IAEA website, the agency’s team based at the site reported hearing an explosion at 1:50 a.m. local time. They said smoke and fire were visible from the team’s on-site dormitory.
Ukrainian officials informed the team a drone struck the New Safe Confinement (NSC) structure built to prevent a radioactive release from Chernobyl’s damaged reactor and protect it from external hazards.
Russia frequently exchanges accusations with Ukraine over similar incidents around nuclear plant as happened in the past with Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant.
While no conclusive evidence has emerged to solidly assign responsibility to any side, this situation has been widely exploited by pro-Kremlin disinformation to accuse Ukraine of posing a nuclear threat, aiming to justify Russia’s invasion of its neighbour and to falsely accuse Kyiv of wanting to prolong the war and to stop any further peace negotiation between US President Trump and Putin.
Read similar cases claiming that IAEA confirmed a new Ukrainian drone attack against Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant, that Ukraine attacks Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant to blackmail Europe with a new Chernobyl, that the Zaporizhzhia NPP was heavily attacked with drones by the Kyiv regime, that the US wants to prepare the world for a provocation at the Zaporizhzhia NPP, that Nuclear blackmail from the Ukrainian regime: Kyiv may create a dirty bomb, and that Ukraine seeks to carry out nuclear terror against the Kursk Nuclear Power Plant.