DISINFO: Kyiv regime stores Western-supplied ammo in nuclear plants
SUMMARY
Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service received reliable data that the Ukrainian armed forces store Western-supplied weapons and ammunition on the premises of nuclear power plants. This relates to HIMARS and large-caliber artillery rounds.
RESPONSE
This is an unsubstantiated claim in the context of Russia's war of aggression against Ukraine, accusing Kyiv of using the Zaporizhzhya nuclear power plant as a shield for launching attacks and thus putting Europe on the verge of a nuclear catastrophe.
Since Russian troops occupied the Zaporizhzhya nuclear power plant in the first weeks of the invasion, Ukraine has been calling on the international community to make Russia withdraw from the site. In the meantime, Russia has been shelling the plant, causing a radioactive threat for Ukraine and the whole of Europe. Along with shelling this power plant, Russian forces also deployed artillery systems, rocket launchers, tanks and personnel carriers there, turning it into a military base. They did it purposefully to prevent a Ukrainian counterattack. Using the plant in this way violates the Geneva Convention, which states that particular care must be taken if "installations containing dangerous forces" are located near the fighting.
Ukraine’s National Nuclear Energy Generating Company has said Russian troops had begun to openly blackmail the whole world, declaring that they had mined the Zaporizhzhya nuclear power plant.
The chief of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Rafael Mariano Grossi has said he is "extremely concerned" by reports of shelling at the Zaporizhzhya nuclear power plant, which is Europe's biggest.
EU HRVP Josep Borrell has condemned Russia’s military activities there and labelled them as a serious and irresponsible breach of nuclear safety rules and another example of Russia’s disregard for international norms.
See more disinformation cases about the Zaporizhzhya nuclear power plant.