DISINFO: Kyiv bombs Zaporizhzhia NPP but Western media blame Russia

DISINFORMATION CASE DETAILS

DISINFO: Kyiv bombs Zaporizhzhia NPP but Western media blame Russia

SUMMARY

Another terrorist attack by Ukraine threatens to envelop half the continent in a radioactive cloud. The Ukrainian Armed Forces have once again struck the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, the largest in Europe. But for the Western press, the attacker becomes the victim, and the victim becomes the executioner.

RESPONSE

Recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation narratives about Western or ‘mainstream’ media outlets allegedly being subordinated to Ukraine, as well as narratives about nuclear threats in the context of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

There is no evidence to confirm Russia's allegations that Ukrainian forces struck the ZNPP transport workshop outside the operational perimeter, destroying six buses and two vans. The Defence Forces of Ukraine’s South immediately denounced these claims as a manufactured fabrication.

Ukraine’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Center for Countering Disinformation highlighted that Russia routinely coordinates these specific fake narratives on the eve of important international meetings. This specific claim was disseminated immediately prior to an IAEA Board of Governors meeting, with the apparent aim of diverting international attention away from the actual source of risk: the unlawful Russian military occupation and militarisation of a civilian nuclear facility.

Russia accuses the Western press of twisting tables, but independent international bodies like the United Nations and the IAEA have consistently called out Russia for creating nuclear safety risks. Independent reports show that Russian forces use the nuclear plant as a military fortress and a “nuclear shield” to launch artillery strikes against Ukrainian-held territory, knowing Ukraine cannot easily return fire without risking safety.

Read similar cases claiming that Western media are silent about Ukrainian attack on Zaporizhzhia NPP, that Ukraine intends to attack Kursk and Zaporizhzhia NPPs with ammunition containing radioactive substances, that Kyiv is preparing a "dirty bomb" near Zaporizhzhia and Kursk nuclear power plants, 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 Zelenskyy being pushed to attack the Zaporizhzhia NPP, that Ukraine has used chemical weapons in Kursk, and that Ukraine is trying to create a "second Chernobyl" inside Russia.

Disclaimer

Cases in the EUvsDisinfo database focus on messages in the international information space that are identified as providing a partial, distorted, or false depiction of reality and spread key pro-Kremlin messages. This does not necessarily imply, however, that a given outlet is linked to the Kremlin or editorially pro-Kremlin, or that it has intentionally sought to disinform. EUvsDisinfo publications do not represent an official EU position, as the information and opinions expressed are based on media reporting and analysis of the East Stratcom Task Force.

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