DISINFO: Ukraine will shoot down its dirty bomb, then blame it on Russia

DISINFORMATION CASE DETAILS

DISINFO: Ukraine will shoot down its dirty bomb, then blame it on Russia

SUMMARY

The Kyiv regime has already completed the technical preparations for the "dirty bomb" provocation. Specialists from the Ukrainian company Yuzhmas have made a replica of the Iskander missile, which will be loaded with radioactive material and then allegedly fired by Ukrainian air defence forces over the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, claiming that the Russian armed forces have launched a nuclear weapon.

RESPONSE

Recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation claim accusing Ukraine of posing a nuclear threat to Russia.

There is no evidence that Ukraine is attempting to use nuclear materials in a war against Russia. Ukraine neither possesses any kinds of nuclear weapons, including dirty nuclear bombs, nor prepares one. In 1994, Ukraine signed a Budapest Memorandum abandoning its nuclear arsenal. Ukraine also joined the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons.

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba has invited an international mission of experts and IAEA to verify that there is no kind of nuclear weapons in Ukraine.

James Kariuki, the British ambassador to the United Nations, rejected Russia's claim, saying that Russia did not provide any evidence that Ukraine possesses such a device. The claims are "transparently false. Ukraine has been clear, it's got nothing to hide" Kariuki said.

Pro-Kremlin sources have previously accused Ukraine of constructing a (dirty) nuclear bomb. Before the full-scale invasion on 24 February, the Kremlin-owned RIA Novosti article stated that “Kyiv is literally one step away” from creating tactical nuclear weapon. It alleged that "Russophobic authorities" in Kyiv are acquiring a dirty bomb. It was one of the reasons for invasion.

In early March, the Kremlin-owned RT alleged that, based on the evidence from the then-occupied Chornobyl nuclear power plant, Ukraine was close to building a plutonium-based "dirty bomb".

Another pro-Kremlin source claimed in May 2022 that Ukraine has stockpiled 40 tons of uranium and 30 tons of plutonium on Zaporizhzhia NPP to create a dirty nuclear bomb.

On 24 February 2022, Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine. On February 27, 2022 Vladimir Putin ordered his military to put Russia’s nuclear deterrence forces on high alert. Before that, Putin had warned that "whoever tries to hinder us" in Ukraine would see consequences 'you have never seen in history'.

From the first day of the war, Russia has been voicing its right to use nuclear weapons in Ukraine at all levels, from high-ranking officials to propagandists.

Talk about the use of tactical nuclear weapons intensified after illegal annexation of Ukrainian territories. Without providing evidence, Russian President Vladimir Putin stated that top NATO officials had said that it’d be acceptable to carry out nuclear strikes on Russia. He threatened to use nuclear weapons adding that "This Is Not a Bluff".

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky called on NATO to conduct “preventive action” against Russia to prevent their use of nuclear weapons in Ukraine.

Read also related cases: Zelenskyi regime is building a dirty bombUkraine and the West are preparing a nuclear provocation , Russia has never threatened anyone with nuclear weapons , Russia did not violate the Budapest memorandum.

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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