Russia claims Ukraine planning false flag attack on nuclear facility

A nuclear reactor in Kharkiv is the target of a planned false flag attack by the Ukrainian security services (SBU) and the Azov Battalion, the Russian Defense Ministry and official Russian state media outlets alleged.

“The SBU, together with the militants of the Azov Battalion, are preparing a provocation with possible radioactive contamination of the area near the city of Kharkiv. Nationalists mined a reactor at an experimental nuclear facility located at the Kharkiv Institute of Physics and Technology,” the report said, according to TASS and Interfax. “The SBU and the militants of the Azov Battalion” plan to blow up the reactor and accuse the Russian Armed Forces of allegedly launching a missile attack on an experimental nuclear facility.”

Both Ukraine and Russia have made many accusations of false flag operations prior to and during the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Russia has also claimed many times that Ukraine is seeking to regain nuclear weapons, though the country previously gave up its Soviet nuclear weapons in return for security guarantees from Russia. There have also been multiple scares regarding nuclear facilities and nearby fighting causing radioactive incidents.

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