Ukraine does not possess nuclear weapons and has no ongoing efforts to create them. It has neither the technological capabilities nor the desire to violate the many international agreements that Ukraine continues to uphold.
Russia has once again spread disinformation suggesting that Ukraine is preparing to make a dirty nuclear bomb, this time claiming that nuclear waste from power plants would be used to make it.
«This waste can be used not only for detonation but also to contaminate an area for tens of kilometers,» the propaganda declares.
Screenshot – gazeta.ru
The narrative that Ukraine is making a dirty nuclear bomb is one of the most common tactics used by Russian propaganda to discredit Ukraine and justify Russia’s aggressive actions against the peaceful country.
However, the allegation that Ukraine could produce nuclear weapons from nuclear waste has no basis in fact. In 1996, Ukraine renounced its nuclear arsenal and has not pursued related technologies since. In 1994, Ukraine acceded to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT). Through these actions, Ukraine declared ownership of the nuclear arsenal inherited from the USSR and committed to its complete elimination, with the intention of using nuclear energy for peaceful purposes only. In return, the major nuclear powers promised to guarantee Ukraine’s security and prevent any form of aggression or coercion, a commitment they have since violated.
At present, Ukraine lacks both the means and the intent to develop such weapons, as well as the desire to violate previous agreements.
Polina Sinovets of the Odesa Center for Nonproliferation told BBC Ukraine that «Ukraine is not enriching uranium to obtain high levels of the 235U isotope, which is needed to make uranium-based nuclear weapons.»
Nuclear weapons can also be made by enriching plutonium in nuclear reactors, which Ukraine also does not do. «We do not have uranium enrichment – this is the key – and we do not reprocess nuclear fuel to obtain plutonium, which means we do not have the capacity for either uranium or plutonium paths to develop nuclear weapons,» Polina Sinovets summarizes.
In addition, President Volodymyr Zelensky has denied any intention by Ukraine to revive a nuclear arsenal, emphasizing the importance of NATO membership as a primary security guarantee.
The creation of such weapons cannot go unnoticed. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) monitors the nuclear programs of countries and is constantly monitoring the situation in Ukraine. Meanwhile, Ukraine’s Energoatom, has stated that Russia may be preparing an act of nuclear terrorism at the occupied Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant (ZNPP), violating all possible safety protocols.
Earlier, StopFake debunked a false story that the US was allegedly preparing a «new Chernobyl» through Ukraine, and fake reports of a release of radioactive elements at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, with a cloud moving in the direction of Kyiv.
