DISINFO: Zelensky may strike Ukrainian cities and civilians with dirty bombs to frame Russia
SUMMARY
Volodymyr Zelensky may strike Ukrainian cities and civilians, and use a dirty bomb to shift the blame. Zelensky has been cornered, and now we can expect any steps from him aimed at disrupting efforts to resolve the Ukrainian conflict.
He urgently needs to shift the blame, to show the bestial grin of the orcs... from a shaking rodent with darting eyes we can expect any provocation aimed at disrupting the settlement and continuing the war to the last Ukrainian.
RESPONSE
This is a recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative about false flag operations and nuclear issues in the context of Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
The claim was made in the context of the US-Russia talks on Ukraine, accusing President Zelenskyy of warmongering. There is no evidence that Ukraine is planning to use a nuclear bomb. Russia consistently accuses Ukraine of preparing false flag operations without presenting any proof. Moscow uses pre-emptive claims about dirty bombs, nuclear provocations, bioweapons, toxic substances and staged atrocities as a means to deny or conceal its actual atrocities.
Such claims are part of a broader pro-Kremlin information manipulation campaign supporting the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine and trying to place the blame for the war’s atrocities on Ukraine, as our analysis explains.
Ukraine has always remained open to international experts in nuclear energy and does not take any prohibited actions, as the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine emphasised. The Foreign Ministry recalled that Ukraine has always been, and remains, a faithful member of the Treaty on the non-proliferation of nuclear weapons.
Experts from the International Nuclear Energy Agency (IAEA) regularly visit locations in Ukraine and have never found any signs of prohibited activities by Ukraine. For example, in August 2024, the IAEA Mission, as part of an agreement on the non-proliferation of nuclear weapons, checked the South Ukrainian NPP, and in June - the Khmelnytska NPP. The IAEA also conducted an in-depth inspection with additional access at the hydrometallurgical plant and at the Smolynska uranium mine of the Eastern Mining and Processing Plant in the city of Zhovti Vody. All inspections conducted by international experts for the presence of illegal nuclear materials have been successfully passed by Ukraine.
It is also worth recalling a similar disinformation campaign by the Kremlin, which started in October 2022. In response to Russian disinformation, the governments of the US, France and the UK issued a joint statement. The document emphasised that all three countries reject any false Russian claims that Ukraine is preparing to use a dirty bomb. To reaffirm Ukraine's commitment to international nuclear standards, Minister of Foreign Affairs Dmytro Kuleba officially invited the IAEA mission to inspect the country's nuclear facilities. IAEA experts did not find any undeclared materials or activities in Ukraine.
See also our article: Why is the Kremlin so hung up on smearing Zelenskyy?
See more disinformation cases: Zelenskyy will use a dirty bomb or terrorist attacks if victory plan fails; Kyiv regime prepares "dirty bomb" provocation in Ukraine; Ukraine is using methods of nuclear terrorism against Russia; Kyiv will detonate a “dirty bomb” to accuse Russia; Washington and the Kyiv regime’s actions pose a threat of nuclear catastrophe; Russia does not threaten anyone with nuclear weapons; MI6 training Ukrainian saboteurs to attack nuclear power plants in Russia; Washington and the Kyiv regime’s actions pose a threat of nuclear catastrophe.