Tag: ukraine

Is Ukraine preparing a false flag operation using radioactive warheads aimed at spent nuclear fuel?

Ukrainian forces have begun preparations to target nuclear waste storage sites at a Russian power plant with radioactive warheads and to then blame Moscow, according to intelligence received by Russia.

Kiev’s forces have already struck the Zaporozhye Nuclear Power Plant (NPP), Europe’s largest, and started a fire at one of the cooling towers, while accusing Russia of bombing itself.

“Sources on the other side report that the [Ukrainians] are preparing a nuclear false flag – an explosion of a dirty atomic bomb,” military journalist Marat Khairullin said Friday on his Telegram channel. “They plan to strike the storage sites of spent nuclear fuel of a nuclear power plant.”

The special warheads intended for the attack have already been delivered to the Vostochny Mining and Processing plant in Zhovti Vody, in Ukraine’s Dnepropetrovsk Region, according to Khairullin.

As possible targets of the attack, Khairullin indicated either the Zaporozhye NPP in Energodar or the Kursk NPP in Kurchatov, noting that the Ukrainian government and its Western backers are “desperate and willing to try anything.”

A security official in the Russian Military Administration of Kharkov Region corroborated Khairullin’s claim to RIA Novosti on Friday. The attack is intended to use radioactive warheads to target spent fuel storage sites at a nuclear power plant, and the ammunition has already been delivered to Zhovti Vody. 

Kiev’s intention is to accuse Moscow of a false flag so it could justify using nuclear weapons against Ukraine, the security official said. The Ukrainian government has received orders from its Western backers to “escalate as much as possible,” he added.

According to the security official, the intelligence came from Ukrainian prisoners of war.

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US lying about involvement in Kursk attack – Putin aide

Kiev would never have staged an operation such as its incursion into Russia’s Kursk Region without US and NATO support, former Security Council Secretary Nikolay Patrushev has insisted, accusing Washington of playing a role in the attack. 

Last week, Ukraine launched its largest attack on Russian territory since the outbreak of the conflict in February 2022. Western officials have voiced their support for the incursion into Kursk Region but denied any prior knowledge of the operation.

“The US leadership’s claims of non-involvement in Kiev’s actions in Kursk Region do not correspond to reality… Without their participation and direct support, Kiev would not have ventured into Russian territory,” Patrushev told Izvestia in an interview published on Friday.

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Here’s Why The US Is Playing Dumb About Ukraine’s Plans To Invade Kursk

White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre claimed that the US didn’t know about Ukraine’s plans to invade Russia’s Kursk Region, but that’s unbelievable since there’s no way that its intelligence services didn’t even catch a hint of it, not to mention likely participate in the preparations.

Putin even reaffirmed during a meeting on Monday with high-ranking government officials about this crisis that Ukraine is the West’s proxy for waging war on Russia. Here are the five reasons why the US is still playing dumb:

1. Maintain Plausible Deniability For Escalation Control

Admitting complicity in Ukraine’s invasion of Russia’s universally recognized territory would make the US a direct participant in these unprecedented hostilities and thus place enormous pressure upon Moscow to respond against it and/or other NATO countries like Poland. The US doesn’t want that to happen, ergo why it also forced Ukraine to call off its reportedly planned assassination of Putin last month as explained here, so dishonestly denying knowledge of its proxy’s plans is par for the course and not unexpected.

2. Avoid Embarrassment & Responsibility Once Ukraine Fails

It’s unlikely that Ukraine will be able to indefinitely hold the territory that it captured inside of Russia so it’s a question of when and not if it fails. Accordingly, the US wants to avoid the embarrassment associated with that once it happens and also reduce the chances that Russia feels pressured to respond against it and/or other NATO countries as written above. The US is basically letting Ukraine hold the bag after everything inevitably fails apart so that Russia’s full fury is directly solely against its proxy.  

3. Propagate David-vs.-Goliath Optics For Boosting Morale

By pretending to be caught off guard by what just happened, the US is lending false credence to the optics that the latest phase of the already decade-long Ukrainian Conflict that began almost two and a half years ago is a modern-day David vs. Goliath story. This is meant to boost morale inside of Ukraine amidst its drastic slump caused by the ramping up of forcible conscription there and increase support among the Western public for continuing to fund this proxy war in the face of growing fatigue.

4. Keep Up The Charade Of A “Gentlemen’s Agreement” Gone Bad

RT’s Sergey Poletaev introduced an intriguing theory into the global information ecosystem earlier this week when he wrote that “The relative calm along the 1,000-kilometer border for two and a half years likely wasn’t coincidental. We can suggest there were agreements between Moscow and Washington, specifically with the administration of US President Joe Biden.” If there’s any truth to that, then lying about not being aware of Kiev’s plans could be an attempt by the US to try to hoodwink Putin yet again.

5. Troll Russia After It Previously Denied Supporting Donbass

Russia always denied militarily supporting Donbass throughout the eight years between “EuroMaidan” and the special operation, but the US insisted that this was a lie and that Russia had “invaded” Ukraine, albeit at a limited scale. Whatever the truth may be, playing dumb about its support for Ukraine’s indisputable invasion of Russia is also an attempt to troll Russia for denying the dubious claim that it “invaded” Donbass before 2022.  

There’s no truth to the US’ denial that it knew nothing about Ukraine’s plans to invade Russia, but claiming otherwise advances its escalation control and soft power interests.

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Former Trump Advisor Says FBI Raided His Home This Week Because He Criticized Biden’s Ukraine Policy

The FBI earlier this week raided the home of Dimitri Simes, a Russian-born policy analyst who advised Trump in 2016.

Dimitri Simes, who has been living and working in Russia since October 2022, said his Virginia home was raided because he spoke out against the Deep State and criticized Biden’s Ukraine policy.

The raid “clearly is an attempt to intimidate, not only somebody from Russia, but just anyone who goes against official policies and particularly against the deep state,” Simes told Sputnik News.

“My suspicion is that instead of trying to get me to come to the United States and to interrogate me — or even to arrest me — their real purpose is to make sure that I would not come back,” said Simes.

The bank account Simes uses to pay the mortgage on the home was also frozen.

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Russian Sources Warn Ukraine is Reportedly Planning to Detonate “Dirty Nuclear Bomb” Targeting Russian Nuclear Power Plants

Ukrainian forces struck a nuclear power plant in the Zaporizhia region on Sunday, an area controlled by Russia.

The cooling systems at the nuclear plant caught fire, sending a dark cloud of smoke in the air above the plant.

According to Wikipedia, the Zaporizhia nuclear plant in southeastern Ukraine is the largest nuclear power plant in Europe and among the ten largest in the world. It has been under Russian control since 2022. It was built by the Soviet Union near the city of Enerhodar, on the southern shore of the Kakhovka Reservoir on the Dnieper River.

Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelenskyy confirmed that a fire broke out at the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant. The cooling system was allegedly not working.

On Friday, Russia warned that Ukraine is plotting a dirty bomb attack at a Russian nuclear energy plant.

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So what really happened in Kursk?

An extremely serious debate is already raging among selected circles of power/intelligence in Moscow – and the heart of the matter could not be more incandescent.

To cut to the chase: what really happened in Kursk? Was the Russian Ministry of Defense caught napping? Or did they see it coming and profited to set up a deadly trap for Kiev?

Well-informed players willing to share a few nuggets on condition of anonymity all stress the extreme sensitivity of it all. An intel pro though has offered what may be interpreted as a precious clue: “It is rather surprising to see such a concentration of force was unnoticed by satellite and drone surveillance at Kursk, but I would not exaggerate its importance.”

Another intel pro prefers to stress that “the foreign intel section is weak as it was very badly run.” This is a direct reference to the state of affairs after former security overseer Nikolai “Yoda” Patrushev, during Putin’s post-inauguration reshuffle, was transferred from his post as secretary of the Security Council to serve as a special presidential aide.

The sources, cautiously, seem to converge on a very serious possibility: “There seems to have been a breakdown in intel; they do not seem to have noticed the accumulation of troops at the Kursk border”.

Another analyst though has offered a way more specific scenario, according to which a hawkish military faction, spread across the Ministry of Defense and the intel apparatus – and antagonistic to the new Minister of Defense Belousov, an economist – let the Ukrainian invasion proceed with two objectives in mind: set a trap for Kiev’s top enemy commanders and troops, who were diverted from the – collapsing – Donbass front; and put extra pressure on Putin to finally go for the head of the snake and finish off the war.

This hawkish faction, incidentally, regards Chief of the General Staff Gerasimov as “totally incompetent”, in the words of one intel pro. There’s no smoking gun, but Gerasimov allegedly ignored several warnings about a Ukrainian buildup near the Kursk border.

A retired intel pro is even more controversial. He complains that “traitors of Russia” actually “stripped three regions from troops to surrender them to the Ukrainians.” Now, these “traitors of Russia” will be able “to ‘exchange’ the city of Suzha for leaving the fake country of Ukraine and promote it as an inevitable solution.”

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In Serbia, ordinary people understood what the Ukrainian farmers still do not understand

In Serbia, people took to the streets to protest against an agreement between the Serbian government and investment “giants” Blackrock and Rio Tinto. Pressure from large investment funds against state sovereignty is raising concerns among ordinary Serbian citizens, who are protesting to prevent their country from becoming a hostage of global financial predators.

It is curious to observe the situation in Serbia and compare it with the terrible Ukrainian reality. One of the most serious and ignored issues regarding the current conflict is the active participation of private investment funds in military aid contracts between Western countries and Ukraine. Contrary to what the pro-Kiev media claims in their lying propaganda, Ukraine is not receiving anything “for free”. Kiev will have to pay for every dollar received in weapons from the US and Europe.

Obviously, Ukraine will not be able to actually pay all these debts. What remains of the country in the post-war period will be an economically devastated nation, unable to maintain its own basic living expenses. It would be naive to think that Western financial predators would not think of this when drafting their abusive contracts with Ukraine. So, to solve this problem, there are several clauses in Western contracts literally establishing the concession of Ukrainian territories and natural resources to international investment funds as a condition of guaranteeing payment.

In other words, if Ukraine is unable to pay its billion-dollar military debts – and obviously it won’t be able to – Kiev will have to hand over land and resources to investment companies like Blackrock. This is already happening. Several hectares of fertile Ukrainian territories were transferred to Blackrock and other companies. Financial predators especially prefer areas of the so-called “black earth” – a Eurasian region where the most fertile soil in the world is located. Millions of tons of black earth have already been exported from Ukraine as part of the process of “paying off” the regime’s exorbitant debts. This tends to get worse and worse, as the Ukrainian regime continues to receive successive military “aid” packages, further increasing its international debt.

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Ukraine Wants to Start Talks Using Kursk Nuclear Plant Seizure as Ultimatum – Akhmat Head

The Ukrainian Armed Forces went on the offensive on August 6 to seize territory in Russia’s Kursk region, but their advance was stopped, said Valery Gerasimov, chief of Russia’s General Staff. He stressed that the operation in Kursk will be completed by defeating the enemy and reaching the state border.

Units of the Russian Armed Forces are in the Kursk city of Sudzha, which the enemy does not control but there are daily clashes, commander of the Akhmat special forces Apti Alaudinov told Russian media.

“Today there are units of the Russian Defense Ministry in Sudzha. There is an enemy around and in some parts of the city. There are active clashes there every day. The enemy cannot say that he completely controls Sudzha, because he does not really control it,” Alaudinov said.

The major general also said that Kiev is planning on seizing the Kursk nuclear power plant on August 11 and use this to start negotiations with Moscow with an ultimatum.

“We received very interesting materials — the whole layout of the operation, which was being prepared, by what forces and what was planned. What can I say: on the 11th [of August] it was necessary to take the nuclear power plant in Kurchatov… [Ukrainian President] Zelensky’s blitzkrieg, which was planned with the seizure of the Kursk nuclear power plant and already entering negotiations with an ultimatum… failed,” Alaudinov explained.

The operation had not been completed, despite all the reserves directed by Kiev in this direction, Alaudinov said.

“Most of the equipment has already been destroyed from what was deployed in the Kursk direction,” Alaudinov concluded.

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Ukrainian Shelling Causes Fire at Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant

Ukrainian shelling started a fire at one of the cooling towers at the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant, according to Zaporizhzhia’s Russian-installed governor, Yevgeny Balitsky.

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said its experts stationed at the ZNPP, which has been under Russian control since February 2022, saw dark smoke rising at the plant after hearing multiple explosions. They were told by plant officials that one of the cooling towers was targeted by an alleged Ukrainian drone attack.

The IAEA said there was no reported impact on nuclear safety as a result of the fire, and Balitsky said radiation levels around the plant were normal.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is claiming that the fire was started by Russians who control the plant. The ZNPP is located in the town of Enerhodar on the south bank of the Dnieper River. Russia controls the territory on the southern bank, while Ukraine controls the territory on the northern side.

Zelensky wrote on X that a video of the fire at the plant was recorded from the city of Nikopol, which is across the river. “Enerhodar. We have recorded from Nikopol that the Russian occupiers have started a fire on the territory of the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant,” he wrote.

Zelensky also said the radiation levels at the plant were normal. “However, as long as the Russian terrorists maintain control over the nuclear plant, the situation is not and cannot be normal,” he added.

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Last Year’s Pentagon Leaks Proved That Zelensky Was Plotting To Invade Russia Since January 2023

So much has happened since spring 2023’s Pentagon leaks that few even remember that they happened, but they’re more relevant than ever amidst Ukraine’s ongoing invasion of Russia’s Kursk Region since they proved that Zelensky had been plotting this since January 2023. The Washington Post reported on this aspect of those leaks in May 2023, writing that the US was already aware by then that Zelensky thought that this move would “give Kyiv leverage in talks with Moscow.”

This wasn’t lost on the Russians either since RT promptly published an article about it, which was analyzed here at the time, thus raising questions about why there weren’t better border defenses in place just in case. These reports circulated right before Ukraine’s ultimately failed counteroffensive, so it’s possible that the border was fortified as a precaution ahead of that happening, but then Russia grew complacent with its on-the-ground gains in Donbass over the past year and let its guard down.

About that, this analysis here from last week pointed out that Ukraine’s invasion of Kursk Region should incentivize Russia to finally eliminate groupthink. It’s difficult to believe that there were no reports whatsoever about a build-up along the border ahead of time, thus meaning that higher-ups might have dismissed whatever they were speculatively told by their underlings as “irrational”. Therein lies the problem since Ukraine always ends up surprising Russia but relevant lessons have yet to be learned.

Whether it’s long-range drone strikes against its strategic airfields, early warning systems, and even the Kremlin or naval drone attacks against its Black Sea fleet, all of which are aided by the Anglo-American Axis, Russia should have expected by now that every one of its soft spots is a likely target. Nevertheless, it’s regularly caught with its pants down, though folks also shouldn’t forget that it still intercepts a lot of drones and foils many impending plots too.

With that being said, more could have been done to protect the border from the invasion that Zelensky had been plotting for a year and a half. Prior to the latest events, he employed terrorist proxies for cross-border raids into Belgorod Region, which might have deceived Russia into thinking that Ukraine abandoned its plans for a conventional invasion. That could explain why the only forces that it deployed along the border were counter-sabotage units who were unprepared to fend off a real invasion.

Such a decision still represents a lapse in judgement, however, when recalling that Ukrainian military-intelligence chief Budanov drew attention to Kursk Region in mid-May shortly after the start of Russia’s push into his country’s Kharkov Region. He said at the time that “they are holding a small group of forces in the border area, in the town of Sudzha. From our side, it is the Sumy direction, but the situation has not yet allowed them to take active action and start, let’s say, implementing their plan.”

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