Ukrainian and Russian media have spread information about a forest fire in the Chornobyl Exclusion Zone. Propagandists picked up on this news and used it to frighten Western audiences, saying that Ukraine is threatening the world with nuclear contamination, since radioactive particles from Ukraine are already moving to Poland. However, this is a fake, journalists from the StopFake project write.

Indeed, on September 3, 2024, the forest litter caught fire in the exclusion zone. As of September 9, the fire is still being extinguished. “Currently, 399 rescuers, 103 units of equipment from the State Emergency Service, brought in from different parts of Ukraine, as well as 17 units of equipment from the forestry service are working at the site”, the State Emergency Service said on a Telegram today.

However, the radiation background in the exclusion zone is normal: control over radiation indicators has been strengthened in the country, the Ministry of Environmental Protection and Natural Resources of Ukraine notes. The automated radiation control system carries out continuous monitoring at 39 points, transmitting data to the control center every hour, and in emergency situations - every minute. The radiation background is also monitored by the operational radiation reconnaissance group of the Ecocenter State Enterprise. All characteristics of the radiation background are normal.

The Kyiv City State Administration also does not record any deviations from the norm. As of today, September 9, the level of air pollution in the capital is low, and the radiation background throughout the city is normal.

The Ukrainian data is confirmed by the independent Czech weather monitoring resource Windy. According to the interactive map, which operates in real time, the main parameters of air pollution in Ukraine, as well as the background level, are within acceptable limits. There are no ‘radioactive clouds’ over Ukraine.

With this fake, the Russians are trying to discredit Ukraine, claiming that it poses a threat of nuclear pollution to the world. The goal of such statements is to force partner countries to abandon Ukraine and leave it without any help in the war against Russia.

We have recently recorded a similar Russian fake. Then the propagandists wrote that there was a release of radioactive elements at the Chornobyl Nuclear Power Plant and the cloud was moving towards Kyiv.