2024-08-20 01:50:29
On August 16, Russian media outlets spread a number of statements in the media and social networks that Ukraine is allegedly preparing a series of nuclear strikes against Russia. All this is done in order to attribute to Kyiv the “authorship” of the provocation that the Kremlin itself is planning to carry out. This is the opinion held by both the media and the official line of the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry.
Thus, on August 16, a number of Russian propaganda media outlets reported, citing their “own sources,” that the Ukrainian Armed Forces were allegedly preparing a nuclear attack on the Kursk and, unexpectedly, Zaporizhzhya nuclear power plants. The “trusted sources” cited included their own “war correspondents,” anonymous people from the “Russian security agency,” and collaborators.
The fakes quickly gained momentum – information began to spread on social networks that the nuclear attack was “being supervised from Britain and NATO”, a large number of Western media representatives arrived in Sumy and Zaporozhye, and the Ukrainian Armed Forces brought “nuclear warheads” to the city of Zhovti Vody in the Dnipropetrovsk region, from where they are planning to bomb the nuclear power plant in Energodar.
The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry denied the Russian statements. They declared “another surge of crazy Russian propaganda” and recalled that in 2022 the occupiers had already tried to spread similar fakes.
“We are witnessing another surge of crazy Russian propaganda about Ukraine’s alleged plans to use “dirty bombs” or attack nuclear power plants. We officially refute these false reports. Ukraine has no intention of committing any such actions. Russia must stop spreading dangerous lies. When Russia first spread this nonsense in 2022, we invited the IAEA mission, which completely refuted this lie. Nothing has changed since then,” said Foreign Ministry spokesman Georgy Tikhyi.
But the Center for Countering Disinformation (CCI) is alarmed by Russian statements. They believe that Russian infidels are preparing a nuclear provocation, which they will then try to blame on Ukraine. All because the Russians’ scenario of accusing the Ukrainian Armed Forces of nuclear terrorism during the offensive in the Kursk region did not work out, and now all that is left for the Russians is to invent fakes about a “dirty bomb.”
“This is evidence that Russia may be preparing a terrorist attack,” wrote Andrey Kovalenko, head of the Center for Countering Disinformation.
Earlier, “Cursor” reported that Iran was getting closer to creating a nuclear bomb. According to media reports, Tehran has begun developing the third key component for creating a nuclear bomb – a detonator.