Ukraine nuclear plant: what happens if it releases a radioactive plume?


An atmospheric scientist describes how researchers would track a toxic cloud in the case of an accident at the occupied Zaporizhzhia power station

A serviceman with a Russian flag on his uniform stands guard in front of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant
A soldier with a Russian flag on his uniform stands in front of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in southern Ukraine.

Officials from the United Nations’ atomic-energy watchdog have this week begun inspections of southern Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Station, where shelling and fighting have raised the risk of a nuclear accident. Russian troops have occupied the nuclear plant — Europe’s largest — since March as part of their ongoing war in Ukraine. The international community has issued stark warnings that damaging some of Zaporizhzhia’s six reactors could lead to catastrophic meltdowns like those that occurred in 2011 at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant in Japan.

Following that accident, a network of stations around the world — primarily built to enforce a treaty that will ban nuclear-warhead tests across the world — helped to monitor and predict the motion of the radioactive plume emitted by the damaged reactors. The network is being built and maintained by the Preparatory Commission for the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty Organization (CTBTO).

If an accident were to occur at the Zaporizhzhia plant, Jolanta Kusmierczyk-Michulec could be among the first people to know. Kusmierczyk-Michulec is an atmospheric scientist at the CTBTO’s International Data Centre in Vienna, which is equipped to conduct computer simulations of the motion of a radioactive plume, forwards and backwards in time.

Nature spoke with Kusmierczyk-Michulec about how her work could help the world to cope with a possible accident at Zaporizhzhia.

What does the CTBTO’s nuclear-monitoring network do?

The International Monitoring System is a network of stations that are built and maintained by the CTBTO to ensure that no nuclear explosion goes undetected. For that purpose, we use monitoring stations, which are based on three waveform technologies — seismic, hydroacoustic and infrasound — and we also use radionuclide [detection] technology. This technology is the only one that can confirm whether an explosion detected and located by other technology is indicative of a nuclear test.

And how is your work involved?

In case a radionuclide station detects elevated values of radionuclides, we do backwards simulation [of how the air moves] to have information about the potential source of this detection. In special cases, we also do forward simulations.

We use an open-source atmospheric-transport model, and data from the meteorological centre ECMWF, the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts, and from NCEP, the US National Centers for Environmental Prediction. Researchers also use this type of model for various other purposes, for example monitoring of volcanic emissions.

How did the CTBTO help to track the plume from the Fukushima Daiichi accident?

The Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant released radioactivity into the atmosphere, which the International Monitoring System observed in the Northern Hemisphere for about three months. Radioactive noble gases, such as xenon, and radioactive particulates were detected.

During the Fukushima event, we did atmospheric-transport modelling to show where the air masses were going. I joined CTBTO in 2012, just after the accident, but still I did a lot of simulations related to it. It was one of the cases that we could use for scientific purposes and for research.

How would we find out if there is a detection of radioactivity released from the Zaporizhzhia plant? Does your network have stations nearby?

The fact that a station is close to the source doesn’t mean that this station will observe something, because air-mass trajectories are quite complex.

The CTBTO cooperates with the International Atomic Energy Agency in the framework of IACRNE, the Inter-Agency Committee on Radiological and Nuclear Emergencies [which was established after the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear accident in Ukraine and coordinates international preparedness and response to a radiological disaster].

For the CTBTO, the critical response task in the case of nuclear or radiological emergencies is to provide real-time data. It’s very likely that the international community would find out about the accident via the IACRNE.

Are there prevailing weather patterns around southern Ukraine that would determine how the plume would probably move?

The answer is not so straightforward. Air masses can travel a long way, for a long time. After a few days, they may reach quite a far distance, depending on the weather conditions, wind directions and wind speeds. Prevailing weather patterns are not a sufficient indicator, especially in that region with quite variable wind direction.

To provide a reliable answer, we would need to do a forwards simulation using atmospheric transport modelling and actual weather data. It’s likely that if I would repeat the simulation two days later, the air masses would move in a different way.

Have you performed any practice simulations of how a plume coming from the Zaporizhzhia plant would move?

The IDC [International Data Centre] isn’t practicing specifically for any such event, but I did some simulations as an exercise before we spoke, so I know that the wind direction is very variable. As of 29 August, a hypothetical plume would have moved towards the south-east, and after a few days would turn eastward. But this result was based on the forecast data, meaning that in an actual event the simulation should be repeated with the analysed data for higher confidence, once these are available.

Watch “Gravitas Plus: Cold War 2.0: Who will shape the new world order?” on YouTube


Dolphins may be dying in Black Sea due to Ukraine war, say scientists.


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Russia was planning to use monkeypox as bioweapon, claims ex-Soviet scientist.


https://www.wionews.com/world/russia-was-planning-to-use-monkeypox-as-bioweapon-claims-ex-soviet-scientist-480996

Elon Musk challenges Vladimir Putin to a fight for Ukraine and he is ‘absolutely serious’


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US violated UN treaties on biological weapons by funding bioweapons labs in Ukraine


The Russian Federation has released new documents showing that Ukraine has been developing biological weapons near the Russian border in violation of United Nations (UN) treaties.

Using American taxpayer dollars funneled there by the Pentagon, these Ukrainian labs were tasked with developing deadly biological agents such as anthrax and the plague.

Right after Russia invaded Ukraine, the Pentagon ordered these biolabs to destroy everything inside of them in order to clear out the evidence.

A memo translated into English reads: “The Ministry of Health of Ukraine in connection with the imposition of martial law in Ukraine on February 24, 2022, in accordance with the Decree of the President of Ukraine from 24.02.2022 No 64/2022, requests to ensure the emergency destruction of biological pathogens used to ensure quality management system laboratory tests in the attached order.”

In other words, Ukraine, the United States and NATO realized that if Vladimir Putin found these biolabs intact, it would be immediate game-over for them. So, they ordered that these biolabs be purged of all evidence immediately.

The real enemy in this war is the Pentagram (Pentagon)

As we reported, the Pentagon has been secretly operating a large network of bioweapons laboratories in some 25 different countries, one of them being Ukraine.

These facilities are being used to develop biological weapons that mysteriously match those that have caused outbreaks in the past, including Ebola in West Africa and H1N1 all around the world in 2009.

A $2.1 billion military program run by the Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA) manages these biolabs under the Cooperative Biological Engagement Program (CBEP).

“Ukraine has no control over the military bio-laboratories on its own territory,” one report revealed about how these labs are directly run by Washington, D.C., via its proxy puppet governments (i.e., Volodymyr Zelenskyy).

“According to the 2005 Agreement between the U.S. Department of Defense (Dod) and the Ministry of Health of Ukraine, the Ukrainian government is prohibited from public disclosure of sensitive information about the U.S. program and Ukraine is obliged to transfer to the U.S. DoD dangerous pathogens for biological research.”

These revelations explain why the corporate-controlled media is having a fit about Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, calling on ordinary citizens to send as much cash as they can afford to the Ukrainian government so it can “defend” itself.

Much like the first two years of the plandemic (the coronavirus phase), this third year (the war phase) is seeing the same coordinated media misinformation and brainwashing campaigns at play.

Last year it was face masks that leftists wore to identify themselves. This year, it is Ukrainian flags plastered all over social media.

“No need to wonder why people are living with more diseases and disease outbreaks than people alive 100+ years ago,” pointed out a Natural News reader about how the Pentagon is more than likely responsible for every disease outbreak that has occurred in recent years.

“To top that off, the peasants are expected to forfeit every human right and their humanity in the fake fight against disease eradication by adding more carcinogens into the bloodstream,” the same person added, that last bit referring to “vaccines.”

Another person wrote that at least someone, in this case Putin, is willing to go after these biolabs in an attempt to destroy them. They are a planetary scourge pumping out biological weapons aimed at humans, and thus deserve to be eradicated.

“Sheeple believed the COVID lies and ran out for their death shots and now wait for their bonus after affects,” wrote someone else.

Russia says Ukraine is littered with U.S.-financed bioweapons labs


Image: Russia says Ukraine is littered with U.S.-financed bioweapons labs

Up until a few days ago, the United States denied the existence of all those Pentagon-run bioweapons laboratories in Ukraine. Now the deep state admits that these biolabs do exist, however the latest deflection is that they are just “research” facilities, and that big, bad Russia is the real threat trying to take them over in order to unleash a biological attack.

Russia’s Lt. Gen. Igor Kirillov blew the lid on the existence of the biolabs in a recent speech. His admissions fully explain why the military-industrial complex of the West is now scrambling to censor all Russian media outlets – but the cat is already out of the bag.

Not only did the U.S., with the help of its NATO allies, try to cover up the existence of the biolabs, but now it is lying to the public about their purpose. The deep state is also preemptively blaming Russia for a biological attack that has not even happened yet, which suggests that the Pentagon is planning to launch another false flag attack that it will blame on Vladimir Putin.

As many as 30 biological laboratories actively cooperating with the U.S. military have been established in Ukraine, Kirillov revealed. These laboratories’ partners include the Pentagon’s Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA) and the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research (WRAIR), the latter of which is the largest biomedical research facility run by the U.S. military.

Many of these biolabs have been active since the 2014 coup d’état in Ukraine, in which U.S. interests removed Ukraine’s formerly neutral-on-Russia president (Oleksandr Turchynov) and replaced him with a Russia-hating one (Petro Poroshenko). Ukraine’s current president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, is also anti-Russia (as well as an actor).

“… their emergence in the country has coincided with a spike in infectious diseases in the region, including German measles, diphtheria and tuberculosis,” writes William Bowles about Ukraine’s Pentagon-run biolabs, citing the Russian military.

“After the Russian forces launched a military operation in Ukraine on February 24, these laboratories started hastily destroying the materials they had been working on, including the highly pathogenic bacterial and viral agents, Kirillov has said, adding that Moscow has obtained documents related to that process.”

How many people have been injured or killed by U.S.-NATO bioweapons created in Ukraine’s Pentagon-run biolabs?

It turns out that these same Ukrainian biolabs have been working with even deadlier pathogens such as anthrax and the plague. All sorts of horrific things have been tampered with and created in these facilities over the years, unleashing disease and death across the planet.

“Assortment and the excessive quantity of the biological agents suggest that the work done in these laboratories had been part of some military biological programs,” Kirillov explained, adding that one such laboratory in the western Ukrainian city of Lvov has destroyed as many as 320 containers with pathogens that cause the plague, swamp fever and Malta fever.

“If these collections fall into the hands of the Russian experts, they will highly likely prove Ukraine and the U.S. have been in violation of the Biological Weapons Convention,” Kirillov went on to state, adding that “this is the only reason that can explain the hasty destruction.”

As you can see, these revelations are damning for the military-industrial complex and its deep state network of biological terrorists. They want us all to believe that Russia is the threat when the reality is that Washington, D.C., and those allied with it are the true parasitical scourge on this planet.

“Moscow has been raising alarm about the activities of the US-financed biological laboratories located in the former Soviet states for quite some time. Earlier, it pointed to the Lugar Research Center – a U.S.-funded laboratory in Georgia – as a place where some dangerous experiments are being conducted,” Bowles says.

“The Pentagon brushed off such accusations as a ‘Russian disinformation campaign’ at that time.”

Does Russia’s Invasion of Ukraine Constitute Biological Warfare?


Invading in the midst of a pandemic surely begs this discussion

Ukrainian troops help civilians cross the shelled bridge connecting the town of Irpin and Kiev in Ukraine.

War can be the cause of, and the perpetuation of, a public health emergency. The current Russian-Ukrainian conflict is no exception, and warrants a discussion of whether invading a country in the midst of a global pandemic constitutes an act of biological warfare. A look back in history can help us explore this question.

The First Act of Biological Warfare: The “Black Death”

In the year 1346, in the port city of Kaffa (now modern-day Theodosia) on the Crimean Peninsula of the Black Sea, the consequences of a different war were unfolding. In that time, Italian notary Gabriele de’ Mussi wrote:

“One infected man could carry the poison to others and infect people and places with the disease by look alone. No one knew, or could discover, a means of defense…the scale of the mortality and the form which it took persuaded those who lived…that the last judgement had come.”

We know now that de’ Mussi was in fact describing the horrors of Yersinia pestis, in what came to be called bubonic plague or the Black Death.

The city of Kaffa came under attack by a Mongol army controlled by Kipchak khan Janibeg, a descendant of Genghis Khan. Janibeg laid siege to the city to remove Genoese forces from an important defensive position in order to alter the European sphere of trade influence. But the Mongols miscalculated the level of resistance and the war dragged on for years, until, as de’ Mussi later wrote:

“…the whole army was affected by a disease which overran…and killed thousands every day…all medical advice and attention was useless.”

Janibeg eventually called off the siege, but not before ordering that the bodies of soldiers felled by the plague be launched via catapult into the city in the hopes of decimating the population. This has been seen as the first intentional act of biological warfare in recorded history and contributed to the explosion of arguably the most devastating pandemic in world history. It has been postulated that Italians fleeing the carnage on ships brought the plague to their home ports (amongst other routes of transmission). Within a year, the plague had gained a firm grip on the European continent. Within 5 years it has been estimated that as much as 40% of the global population was killed, corresponding to 200 million people.

Flash Forward to Modern Day: The COVID-19 Pandemic

Though over 600 years have passed since that pandemic (to use the modern term), we find ourselves in the midst of a new war during a global pandemic in the same region where the Black Death exploded. As expected, the risk of greater spread of COVID-19 and threats to an already strained healthcare system are significant.

Though data is scant from Russia, according to the Russian Ministry of Defense as of December 2021, military vaccination against COVID-19 was broadcast as upwards of 95%, with 25% receiving boosters. Despite this, the Russian army is not invincible, especially in the face of Omicron, and cases have reportedly been spreading throughout units. Reports (though unconfirmed) have estimated the Russian military has been losing almost 300 troops daily to injury or death. With images of soldiers being left on the battlefield and military units refusing to fight and surrendering, one has to wonder whether COVID-19 is a factor.

Potentially infected Russian troops create a health hazard as they increasingly mix with the Ukrainian population, engaging in warfare in close quarters and being taken as prisoners by the Ukrainian army (or vice versa). The Ukrainian population has a low rate of people fully vaccinated against COVID-19 at only 35%, and just over 36% having received at least one dose. With such low vaccination rates, COVID-19 can continue to spread. Like many other countries, Ukraine had a significant surge in cases in November and February during the Omicron spike, but that doesn’t negate another surge or the emergence of new variants. And while the Ukrainian military reportedly has a 99% vaccination rate, its ranks have increasingly been infused with civilians defending their homeland, many of whom are unvaccinated. The close contact they will have with Russian prisoners will almost certainly increase the likelihood of continued COVID-19 transmission. Additionally, having people cramped indoors in bomb shelters and subway stations without access to health services poses a serious risk. As the remaining Ukrainian population huddles together for safety and over 1.7 million and counting flee the country into neighboring European lands — some of which, like Poland, have waived their standard coronavirus quarantine and testing requirements for refugees — such actions may tragically create more opportunities for COVID-19 to spread, much like the Black Death.

Healthcare workers in Ukraine must not only contend with traditional battlefield casualties, but also the consequences of additional COVID-19 infections. This becomes exceptionally challenging given that the oxygen supply to Ukrainian hospitals is already at the point of exhaustion. Moreover, electrical shortages from the invasion pose immense risk to hospital systems and supplies including ventilators, dialysis machines, and lights. Other critical supplies are increasingly unavailable. Médecins Sans Frontières (Doctors Without Borders) suspended normal operations in the country the last week of February, and staffing shortages are already apparent. The world is receiving reports of hospitals and healthcare workers deliberately being targeted by the Russian military, using internationally banned weapons, such as cluster munitions. As of today, the WHO confirmed at least 14 attacks on Ukraine’s healthcare facilities — killing 9 people and injuring 16 — and classified two more attacks as possible.

We posit that launching this invasion in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic constitutes a form of a biological warfare, intentional or not. Biological warfare occurs when a state uses a disease-causing agent in waging war. While the 1972 Biological Weapons Convention specifically bans microbial or other biologic agents for use other than peaceful or protective purposes as well as the production of weapons or equipment designed to deliver these agents during conflict, the Soviet Union, parent of the current Russian government, has a long history of treaty noncompliance. While exacerbating the spread of COVID-19 may not have been Russia’s primary goal when invading Ukraine, it is an obvious side effect that Russian leaders had to be aware of when they made the decision to invade. Accordingly, this may constitute biological warfare, especially when hospitals and healthcare workers are indiscriminately targeted, violating international rules of war.

As the war grinds on, the world sits on a precipice. Up to now, impasse is leading to escalation. When war stops, the full impact on the health of the population will ultimately be revealed.

Why Did the Russians Intervene in Ukraine and is Europe Heading for a New Dark Age?


“Russia started a war in Ukraine” – the Western media claim. An absolutely abject lie. The war in Ukraine began in 2014 after an organized coup, one more in a series of those orchestrated by the United States.

Intoxicated by false hopes, the unfortunate Ukrainians did not realize that they were just a mere tool in the hands of a tyrant from Washington. Despite their enormous resources and potential, they became beggars at the gates of the EU, where no one had any intention of receiving them.

For thirty years, the Western powers have been spreading anti-Russian propaganda in Ukraine through NGOs and the media, wanting what Brzeziński[1] considered necessary to separate Russia from Ukraine.

And they did not hesitate to do so, whether by supporting the neo-Nazi government or silently watching the genocide it was carrying out against the Russian population in Ukraine. Russians and Ukrainians are one people and almost every family in Russia has a relative in Ukraine. But why should anyone in London and Washington care, when they have their “strategic” goals.

The current anti-Russian hysteria in the Western media reminds me of the 1990s and the persecution of the Serbs.[2] In this campaign, the terrorists became victims, and the victims became terrorists – deprived of any possibility to say a single word to the world in their defense. For the verdict was already written in advance. The special operations and media executions did their job well. Then Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, Syria… always the same scenario. For how many decades has the world been subjected to the violence of the Americans who have established the law of force instead of international law? And all this under the guise of the fight for democracy, human rights, and freedom…

“War is peace, freedom is slavery, ignorance is power”, wrote Orwell, the visionary, in his book “1984”. The fact that Orwell was recently censored and declared persona non grata shows how far Western totalitarianism has gone.

Hypocrisy and lies have reached their peak. I had the opportunity in 2014 and 2015 to visit Donbass several times. The war was still going on. Confused and frightened people showed us demolished houses, monuments, damaged hospitals and kindergartens, demolished churches, and fresh graves.

They did not understand why they were bombed by the army of the country they lived in. Ukraine forbade the Russian population to speak their own language and to remember their ancestors. None of the great Western watchdogs said that this was a violation of basic human rights.

Over the past eight years, as the Ukrainian army and neo-Nazi battalions have fired missiles at the civilian population of Donbass, many civilians have been killed, including children, women, and the elderly.

Are these victims not important to the West, because they are Russian?

In Odessa, Ukrainian neo-Nazis committed a horrible crime in 2014.[3]  They burned people because they spoke Russian. No one was found responsible for this crime. We did not hear anyone protesting in the Western media.

For years, Russia watched this injustice with pain and tried to persuade the West to discuss by diplomatic and political means. Without success. The West continued to incite Ukraine against Russia, to arm and extremize it, underestimating Russia at all levels.

The fact that the only two countries to vote against the resolution banning the glorification of Nazism were the United States and Ukraine speaks volumes about this. This is not surprising considering that the neo-Nazi battalions in Ukraine are equipped with American weapons.

Putin’s motto is: “If you know a fight is inevitable, strike first”. The puppet government in Kiev, with the support of its foreign supervisors, was preparing a new attack on the Russian population.

This was not enough either, and the Kiev comedian threatened to renew his nuclear arsenal. This was the last straw. Thirty years of Western investment in the extremization of Ukraine will collapse in just one week. This is why the Western media is going wild, and not because they care about the victims.

Russia’s military intervention in the demilitarization and denazification of Ukraine is aimed at destroying NATO infrastructure and neo-Nazi battalions. The precaution that makes the operation slower is necessary to protect the civilian population from combat operations. The fact that since the beginning of the intervention, various Ukrainian units have been concentrating their weapons near civilian facilities, schools, hospitals, etc. shows how little Ukraine cares.

The military operation began with the entry of the Russian army from several directions in the north, east and south of Ukraine, i.e., from the Belarusian and Russian border areas with Ukraine in the north and east, and then from the Donbass and Crimea.

The obvious goal is a military action to cut off communications on several sides and prevent the possibility of mobilization of Ukrainian forces, as well as to occupy major cities, which will lead to the collapse of the Kiev regime. The western part of Ukraine has been left as an evacuation corridor. More important battles were fought in Mariupol, where the neo-Nazi battalions were concentrated, and then in Kharkov and Kiev.

By the sixth day of the operation, Ukrainian forces were cut off from the Sea of Azov, and all major cities were surrounded by Russian forces, including Mariupol, Kharkov and Kiev. This is a well-known tactic from Debaltseve[4] when Ukraine was forced to sign the Minsk agreements, which it would not subsequently comply with.

Russia treats the regular army of Ukraine with special respect. Many Ukrainian soldiers have already laid down their arms and been released to return home. Some have voluntarily sided with Russia.

In several Ukrainian cities, municipal authorities have switched to the Russian side and formed mixed patrols consisting of members of the local police and the Russian army, which maintain order and peace.

At the same time, the first round of negotiations was held between the delegations of Russia and Ukraine, during which the Ukrainian delegation appeared as if they were going to a Dinamo game, in T-shirts and caps (only the torches were missing). Further negotiations were announced for March 2, when Ukrainian forces will be in an even worse position.

The complete encirclement of Kiev by a tens of kilometers long column of the Russian army, whose equipment is supported by the air force, creates great hysteria for the Ukrainian regime. By occupying Kiev, any safe negotiating position of the Ukrainian government will be lost.

The objective of Russia’s intervention in Ukraine is not occupation, but stopping the war or imposing peace. That is why it seems pointless that those who started the war in Ukraine blame Russia for it – when it is Russia that will stop the war in Ukraine. The epilogue of the intervention will be known in the next few days. The Ukrainian government will not be able to resist more than that. We can say farewell to neo-Nazism in Ukraine.

The results of the Russian intervention in Ukraine will further affect the new geopolitical rules, as well as security in Europe. The American policy of threats and sanctions, which the EU is following closely, will have greater consequences for Europe than for Russia. Such a policy leads Western countries to increasing isolationism, and Europe risks becoming the biggest collateral damage. With a persistent desire to harm Russia – even if it suffers the consequences, it can lead Europe to the new Middle Ages. Russia will reciprocate all the sanctions it is exposed to. It is obvious that they do not only concern the economy, but also sports, culture, science, in fact all areas.

The open non-intervention of Western powers in the Ukrainian conflict is not only conditioned by the fear of direct conflict with Russian military force, but also by a clear understanding that China is no longer a silent wise man, that it is in a strong alliance with Russia, and that in addition to China, there are other countries that have had enough of the violence of the world tyrants. The Middle East, Asia – with powers like China, India, Africa, as well as a number of countries in South America, do not want to deteriorate relations with Russia. Support for Russia in diplomatic form has already been expressed by Syria, Brazil, the United Arab Emirates, Venezuela, Iran, Cuba, Nicaragua, Kazakhstan, India, Belarus and, of course, China.

The President of the European Commission has already stated that the sanctions that the EU imposes on Russia will also affect the European economy. Moreover, they forget that Russia actually has no foreign debt, has huge foreign exchange and gold reserves, earns significant income from rising gas prices and is supported by the largest economic power – China. Not to mention the security situation in Europe, which is overwhelmed by migrants and affected by a wave of citizen discontent due to the economic situation, the pandemic, migrants, the crisis of political elites and others. China has already announced that it will buy all the wheat from Russia, which is the world’s largest exporter of this product. Similarly, China and Mongolia have signed new gas agreements with Russia, through which the latter will be able to offset all exports to the European market. Instead of dreaming about how Russia will fail under European sanctions, it would be better if Europe would get together and think about how it can replace Russian gas and wheat if it does not want to buy them from Russia? Cave fires and deer hunting do not seem to be an alternative for the 21st century.

Currently, Russian channels in Europe are being suppressed by brutal censorship, and the Czech Republic has implemented a 3-year prison sentence for public support to Russia. Therefore, we can expect an inquisition in the near future. Europe only needs a little responsibility and courage… Jacques Hogard has written a book entitled “Europe died in Pristina”.[5]  I can only add that if things remain as they are, it will be buried in Kiev.

The World Health Organization (WHO) has advised Ukraine to destroy all high-threat pathogens housed in public health laboratories to prevent potential spills that could spread disease.


Ukraine’s laboratory capabilities have been at the forefront of a growing information war following the Russian invasion two weeks ago. (Reuters)

 Biosecurity experts have warned that Russia’s troop movement in Ukraine and the bombardment of its cities raised the risk of disease-causing pathogens escaping should any facilities be damaged, Reuters reported.

Ukraine has public health laboratories, like several other countries, researching ways to mitigate the threats posed by dangerous diseases that affect both humans and animals, including Covid-19. Its labs receive support from the US, the WHO, and the European Union.

In response to questions about its work with Ukraine prior to and during the invasion, the WHO said that it had collaborated with the country’s public health labs for years to promote security practices that prevent the deliberate or accidental release of pathogens.

As part of this work, the United Nations health agency has recommended to Ukraine’s Ministry of Health and other responsible bodies to get rid of high-threat pathogens.

While the WHO did not reveal when it made the recommendation or provide specifics about the kinds of pathogens housed in the laboratories, it also did not reveal if the recommendations were being followed.

Ukraine’s laboratory capabilities have been at the forefront of a growing information war following the Russian invasion two weeks ago. Russia Foreign Ministry Spokesperson on Wednesday Maria Zakharova reiterated a longstanding claim that the US operated a biowarfare lab in the former Soviet state. Both the US and Ukraine have previously denied the accusations.

Zakharova said documents found by Russian forces in Ukraine showed an emergency attempt to erase evidence of military-grade biological programmes by destroying laboratory samples.

A spokesperson for the Ukraine president, however, denied the allegations. Spokespeople from the US government also denied the accusations and said Russia might use these claims to deploy chemical or biological weapons.

While the WHO made no reference to biowarfare, it said it encouraged all parties to cooperate in the secure disposal of pathogens they find and reach out for technical assistance when needed.

On Friday, the United Nations Security Council will convene a meeting at Russia’s request to discuss the Kremlin’s claims about US biological activities in the war-torn country.