DISINFO: Ukraine stores Western weapons in nuclear power plants
SUMMARY
Russia has reliable information that the Armed Forces of Ukraine store Western-supplied weapons and ammunition at nuclear power plants. This concerns the expensive and scarce HIMARS multiple launch missile systems and foreign air defense systems, as well as large-caliber artillery ammunition.
Kyiv's calculation is simple - to blame Russia for a nuclear disaster, even if the American ammunition explodes by itself.
RESPONSE
An unsubstantiated claim in the context of Russia's war of aggression against Ukraine, accusing Kyiv of using nuclear power plants, particularly the Zaporizhzhya NPP, as a shield for launching attacks and thus putting Europe on the verge of a nuclear catastrophe.
Since Russian troops occupied the Zaporizhzhya nuclear power plant in the first weeks of the invasion, Ukraine has been calling on the international community to make Russia withdraw from the site. In the meantime, Russia has been shelling the plant, causing a radioactive threat for Ukraine and the whole of Europe. Along with shelling this power plant, Russian forces also deployed artillery systems, rocket launchers, tanks and personnel carriers there, turning it into a military base. They did it purposefully to prevent a Ukrainian counterattack. Using the plant in this way violates the Geneva Convention, which states that particular care must be taken if "installations containing dangerous forces" are located near the fighting.
Ukraine’s National Nuclear Energy Generating Company has said Russian troops had begun to openly blackmail the whole world, declaring that they had mined the Zaporizhzhya nuclear power plant.
The chief of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Rafael Mariano Grossi has said he is "extremely concerned" by reports of shelling at the Zaporizhzhya nuclear power plant, which is Europe's biggest.
EU HRVP Josep Borrell has condemned Russia’s military activities there and labelled them as a serious and irresponsible breach of nuclear safety rules and another example of Russia’s disregard for international norms.
See more disinformation cases about the Zaporizhzhya nuclear power plant.