Collaborators, representatives of the occupation authorities, claim that the Ukrainian leadership is “preparing” to use chemical and bacteriological weapons to contaminate the water bodies of the Kherson region. And they are supposedly blaming the Russians for this.

But there is no evidence that Ukraine has used or is going to use chemical or biological weapons in the combat zone or in the temporarily occupied territories. Moreover, such reports are accompanied by a number of similar comments on social networks, which allegedly indicate that Ukrainian troops are poisoning the water in wells in various settlements. All this may indicate a coordinated disinformation operation.

Moreover, the Secretariat of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) has not yet found any evidence of Ukraine using chemical weapons during the war. In May 2024, the United States announced the use of chemical weapons by the Russian Federation against Ukraine, namely chloropicrin, a chemical substance included in Schedule 3 of the Convention, as well as riot control agents.

In this way, propagandists promote the classic narrative about the existence of the so-called dirty bomb - that is, that Ukraine is ready to contaminate not only its own territories, but also others with all sorts of chemicals, including radiation. In fact, Ukraine has never developed the so-called dirty bomb, and all the statements of propagandists on this topic are fake. The explanation of Russian propaganda as to why Ukraine would detonate a dirty bomb on its territory is unfounded. Russia claims that Ukraine allegedly wanted to increase the number of Ukrainian refugees abroad (for an unknown reason), and also to pass off the dirty bomb as the explosion of a tactical nuclear charge of Russia itself, in order to accuse the latter of using nuclear weapons. Then the international community should have condemned such actions of the Kremlin and introduced new sanctions, perhaps even expelled Russia from the UN Security Council, and also increased arms supplies to Ukraine.

By the way, the report of the American Institute for the Study of War says that the propaganda statements about the development of a dirty bomb are needed to slow down the process of arms supplies to Ukraine. At the same time, analysts believe that Russia is unlikely to detonate the so-called dirty bomb itself: this is just another attempt to “feel out” the international community to find out the possible reaction to Russia's use of nuclear weapons.