the radiation cloud moved to Europe. Devices do not fix it

The Secretary of the Security Council of Russia, Nikolai Patrushev, said on Friday that as a result of a Russian attack on an ammunition warehouse in the Ukrainian city of Ternopil, shells with depleted uranium exploded, and now “a radioactive cloud was directed towards Western Europe.”

“In Poland, the growth of radiation has already been recorded,” said Patrushev, speaking in Syktyvkar. According to him, “already in the near future, a cloud with toxic elements will affect Germany, France and Switzerland.”

Patrushev did not provide any specific data. The Ministry of Defense of Russia did not officially announce the destruction of shells with depleted uranium in Ternopil. Recently, this city was really attacked. The rumor about the radioactive release, which apparently became the source of Patrushev’s words, appeared after the strikes on Ternopil and the second Ukrainian city – Khmelnytskyi, and it was in connection with the strike on Khmelnytskyi that there were noticeably more rumors on the net.

The blow was delivered on May 13. Shortly after this attack, the video of which appeared on the Internet (a large cloud rises on the video, which can indicate the destruction of a warehouse with explosives or ammunition), in Russian and Ukrainian publications and Telegram channels began to spread reports about the allegedly increased radiation background in the city and about the fact that this was allegedly caused by the explosion of depleted uranium ammunition. The local authorities reported that these statements do not correspond to reality, and the monitoring data of the radiation background indicate that it remained normal and did not change significantly either before or after the impact. The authorities of Ternopil also rejected the rumors about the alleged increase in the background.

A few days later, the State Atomic Energy Agency of Poland also commented on the rumors about the allegedly increased radiation background in the east of the country, stating that the background is within the normal range, and its short-term increase in a number of places, which could be observed in recent days, is a natural phenomenon associated, for example, with the passage of atmospheric front and heavy precipitation.

Data from measuring stations in Poland indicate that there have been no significant fluctuations in the background in recent days. In Lublin and a number of other cities, on May 15, the background rose for a short time by approximately 15%, remained within the normal range, and after a few hours decreased to normal values. In Krasychyna, located on the Ukrainian border, there was no such hesitation. In general, the radioactive background in Poland is now the same or even slightly lower than a week ago.

The Russian publication Ukraina.ru generally accused Ukraine itself of spreading rumors about radiation. It led to the opinion of State Duma deputy Maksym Shingarkin, who called the version of radiation pollution “invented and completely unrealistic from the point of view of physics.” According to Shingarkin, “uranium does not burn from the impact of high-explosive munitions, it is impossible to pollute a huge territory by bombing a warehouse with depleted uranium munitions intended for armor-piercing combat”, however, this version is “translated, repeated, multiplied, additional meanings are added to it”. although “all this is an absolute fake.” Why these statements are spread by Patrushev, Ukraina.ru does not explain.

The head of the IAEA, Raphael Grossi, and other specialists previously stated that shells with depleted uranium do not pose a radiation hazard.

In Ukraine itself, the radiation background on May 19 is also normal. Where exactly the “radioactive cloud” should be located, if it is not over Poland or Ukraine, is not clear.