Disinfo: Ukraine shells nuclear plant to deploy international peacekeeping forces

Summary

Against the background of continuous shelling of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant by Ukrainian armed forces, Kyiv called for the deployment of international peacekeeping forces on the plant; it also called on the international community to establish a demilitarized zone around this nuclear plant.

Ukraine is trying to lure a third party into its conflict. They have not managed to draw NATO countries directly there, which means that they have to push peacekeepers and international monitors in any way to the nuclear power plant in Zaporizhzhia.

Disproof

No evidence is provided to back the claim that Ukraine is shelling the Zaporizhzhia power plant.

In fact, there has been an increasing number of reports that Russia uses the nuclear site as a so-called “sheltered” artillery park, "using the facilities to fire on Ukrainian positions in the belief that Ukraine would not fire back and risk a nuclear accident".

The US Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, accused Russia of using the plant as a nuclear shield. “Of course the Ukrainians cannot fire back lest there be a terrible accident involving the nuclear plant,” he said. Russian forces likely use the territory of the plant to shell the Ukrainian-controlled town of Nikopol across the river.

Additionally, the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) warns about the risk of Russia's militarisation of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant. According to recent data, Russia mined the territory of the plant and placed its military armaments near nuclear reactors and nuclear waste storage facilities.

A video shared by Russian opposition outlet The Insider shows that Russian military vehicles move in and around the plant, some of them (including armored vehicles) moved into the building containing the first of the plant’s six nuclear reactors. Besides this, Russian forces dug trenches and establish firing positions.

In its recent statement, the Foreign Ministers of the G7 stated that "it is Russia’s continued control of the plant that endangers the region" and demanded Russia to hand back full control over the plant as well as other occupied nuclear facilities to Ukraine.

publication/media

  • Reported in: Issue 303
  • DATE OF PUBLICATION: 10/08/2022
  • Article language(s) Arabic
  • Countries and/or Regions discussed in the disinformation: Ukraine, Russia
  • Keywords: Nuclear issues, War in Ukraine, Invasion of Ukraine
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Disinfo: Political opposition in Ukraine does not exist and all media are censored

There isn't any political opposition against Zelenskyy’s party in Ukraine. All opposition political parties are forbidden, and their leaders are imprisoned.

There is no free media in Ukraine. All critical-thinking journalists are imprisoned, killed, or have escaped abroad.

Disproof

Recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation about dictatorship in Ukraine.

The situation in Ukraine is not ideal but it is not a dictatorship either. The situation is influenced by the aggressive war against Ukraine which Russia began on 24 February 2022.

Disinfo: Ukrainian militants are shelling the nuclear station in Zaporizhzhia

Kyiv authorities' militants are shelling the nuclear station in Zaporizhzhia avoiding witnesses to their crimes.

Most likely, representatives of the IAEA are also not eager to get to the Zaporizhzhia NPP, because there they will either have to go against the Western mainstream and accuse the Nazis of shelling the plant, or deny obvious things, undermining their own authority.

If a catastrophe happens, vast territories will be contaminated and uninhabitable. Ukraine will do what the West asks for: to surrender only scorched earth to Russia.

Disproof

No evidence is provided to back the claims being made. The recurring claim that Ukraine plans false flag attacks is designed to deflect blame for the war atrocities away from its real perpetrators.

The Ukrainian authorities denied the shelling of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant (NPP) and accused Russia of dangerous actions that may cause a nuclear catastrophe.

Disinfo: The West pushed and encouraged Kyiv to acquire nuclear weapons

The West bears responsibility for what is happening, because it pushed Kyiv and encouraged it to acquire nuclear weapons, which created threats to Russian security, which Russia did not and will not allow.

Disproof

A claim presented without any evidence or base. In addition, the claim was not counterbalanced or critically challenged in the article.

Under the Budapest memorandum in 1994, Ukraine promised to remove all Soviet-era nuclear weapons from its territory, send them to disarmament facilities in Russia, and sign the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty. Ukraine kept these promises. In return, Russia, the United Kingdom, and the United States promised that none of them would ever threaten or use force against the territorial integrity or political independence of Ukraine. They specifically pledged they would refrain from making each other's territory the object of military occupation or engage in other uses of force in violation of international law.