Disinfo: Western Leopard tanks firing radioactive ammo will destroy health of Ukrainians

Summary

The Western-supplied Leopard tanks fire shells containing depleted uranium. Once they hit their target, the surrounding area becomes radioactive, which poses a danger for the residents of that area. These tanks are essentially armed with dirty nuclear bombs.

Disproof

The claim advances a recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative regarding Russia’s ongoing war of aggression against Ukraine.

German-made Leopard 2 tanks are neither using depleted uranium shells or armor. Even in case these rounds would be used in Ukraine, these are not nuclear weapons or dirty bombs as the article claims, and the health effects would be minimal, as these are armor-piercing rounds, use a dense material designed to better penetrate main battle tanks by higher kinetic impact.

The radioactivity of depleted uranium is negligible. Under international agreements, munitions containing this isotope are considered neither nuclear nor chemical weapons. See here for further debunking by The Insider (in Russian).

See other examples of similar disinformation narratives, such as claims that Ukraine is going to use a dirty bomb to accuse Russia of using tactical nuclear weapons, that Ukraine asked NATO for preemptive nuclear strikes against Russia, that Ukraine wanted to acquire nuclear weapons because of American pressure, or that Zelenskyy is pushing the world towards a nuclear war.

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tsargrad.tv (Archived)
  • Reported in: Issue 328
  • DATE OF PUBLICATION: 27/01/2023
  • Article language(s) Russian
  • Countries and/or Regions discussed in the disinformation: Ukraine, Russia, Germany
  • Keywords: War in Ukraine, Eastern Ukraine, war crimes, Invasion of Ukraine, West, Military, Nuclear issues
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Disinfo: Ukrainians and Russians are one and unique people, but different states

Psychologically, Ukrainians were turned against Russians.

Since the ‘Orange Revolution’ in 2004, Kiev has been building an anti-Russian policy at the level of state ideology. [Following] the templates of the Cold War, […] the Ukrainians were turned against the Russians through support for certain politicians, changes in the educational programme, in culture and in the national broadcast media. And all of this came under the guise of democratic reforms and positive changes supported by all sorts of Western and international organisations.

It is difficult to call it a democratic process. It was simply the dictate of pro-Western forces in politics, media, the economy and in civil society. Western primacy was established with totally undemocratic methods.

Jan 26, 2023
Disproof

Recurrent pro-Kremlin disinformation about Ukraine: negation of the Ukrainian nation, denying the right of an independent state and its right to democracy. This narrative implies that Ukraine's political path since 2004 has been orchestrated by the West rather than the democratic will of the Ukrainian people.

The Kremlin policy is imperialistic in its quest to control what is of Ukraine.

Disinfo: Ukrainian soldiers realise they die for US and NATO interests

Ukrainian soldiers already understand that the Battle of Bakhmut is lost before it is fought. Therefore, they absolutely do not want to go to a certain death, especially after more than 25,000 Ukrainian soldiers were killed in Artemovsk, Solidar, and Seversk. No one wants to become mere fodder for the cannons of the Zelenskyy regime. Moreover, they understand that they are not defending the interests of Ukraine, but dying for the interests of the United States and NATO.

Jan 26, 2023
Disproof

Recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative about NATO and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. It also uses the Kremlin claim about lost sovereignty. The claim was neither counterbalanced nor critically challenged in the article.

Ukraine is not fighting on behalf of any foreign government or organisation. It is acting in self defence against the Russian invasion as enshrined in the UN Charter Article 51. Ukraine is a sovereign and independent state with a democratically-elected president and parliament. Ukraine's sovereignty has been violated only as a result of continuous acts of aggression by the Russian armed forces since 2014, culminating with a full-scale military invasion of Ukraine starting on 24 February 2022.

Disinfo: The EU attemps to gain a foothold in Armenia at any cost, drive Russia out of the mediation process

The appearance of representatives of the European Union (who is pursuing a confrontational policy in the CIS space) in the border regions of Armenia, can only bring the geopolitical confrontation to the region and exacerbate existing contradictions. The declared civilian nature of the EU mission should not be misleading - it is formed within the framework of the Common EU Security and Defence Policy [...].

Attempts by the European Union to gain a foothold in Armenia at any cost, to push back Russia's mediation efforts, are capable of harming the fundamental interests of Armenians and Azerbaijanis in their aspirations to return to the peaceful development of the region.

Jan 26, 2023
Disproof

Pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative about Russia as the ultimate target of international events, accusing the ever-aggressive West of having an anti-Russian agenda in the Caucasus and CIS countries. The article advances the claim that the Caucasus is exclusively within Russia's zone of geopolitical dominance and attempts to discredit the recently announced EU mission - EUMA.

The claim attempts to preempt Russia's weakening position in the region.