As of July 19, the radiation background in Kyiv and the surrounding area is within normal limits. The State Emergency Service of Ukraine does not confirm the information about the release. No reputable Ukrainian media outlets have reported this news either.

A number of users on social media are spreading information that a release of radioactive elements has allegedly occurred at the Chornobyl nuclear power plant, and «a cloud of dust is moving towards Kyiv, given the wind direction.» It is claimed that the incident was allegedly reported by Ukrainian journalists. Along with the publication, a map was shared, allegedly showing the extent of the pollution. 

Such disinformation began to spread amid news of the accident at the Rostov Nuclear Power Plant in Russia. There is currently no accurate information to confirm that anything serious has happened at the Russian nuclear power plant. However, after this information appeared, hundreds of Telegram channels began to write that such an accident occurred in Ukraine and that it was all a «Zelenskyy’s dirty bomb.» Such narratives are, firstly, aimed at leveling the information noise about the events in Rostov-on-Don, and secondly, at reinforcing the Russian disinformation narrative about Ukraine’s alleged readiness to use a dirty nuclear bomb and about the chaos and lack of control over critical infrastructure in Ukraine.

There is no confirmation of the information being spread. The radiation background in Ukraine is monitored by a number of services, and no sharp increase in its level has been recorded anywhere. In Kyiv and the region, as well as throughout Ukraine, this background is normal (as of July 19 – editor’s note).

The statement of the propaganda that Ukrainian journalists allegedly became the source of this information is also untrue. In fact, the original source of this news was the Russian Telegram channel Sheikh Tamir, which has repeatedly spread Russian disinformation before. None of the Ukrainian media picked up this news, nor did individual journalists report on this event on their social media pages. 

The photo attached was taken from the photostocks, and it shows data on the density of plutonium contamination in the 30-kilometer zone of the Chornobyl nuclear power plant.

StopFake has previously refuted other fakes related to Chornobyl, such as that Ukraine is turning into a nuclear burial ground, the country is facing a second Chornobyl, or that the United States is allegedly preparing a «new Chornobyl» for Russia with the help of Ukraine.