Gamma radiation plume cover-up? Dr Chris Busby on Khmelnytskyi Ukraine arms dump explosion 14 May 23

Chris Busby on how there seems to have been a massive radiation leak from an arms dump explosion in Khmelnytsky, Ukraine on Sunday 14th May. He also discusses why it could have produced the large reported gamma radiation spike and radiation plume over Poland and why NATO and Russia are both covering it up out of embarrassment..

https://politicsthisweek.wordpress.com/2023/05/17/not-the-bcfm-politics-show-presented-by-tony-gosling-140/

Huge 'Mushroom' Blast in Khmelnytskyi Reignites 'Depleted Uranium' Claims

https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/world/huge-mushroom-blast-in-khmelnytskyi-reignites-depleted-uranium-claims/ar-AA1bdQ6c

A viral video of a huge explosion near the city of Khmelnytskyi in Western Ukraine has been shared widely along with unverified claims that a "depleted uranium" storage facility was hit and reports that radiation levels were "rising" in the aftermath of the strike (which have been dismissed as false by the IAEA).

Concerns about the safety of Ukraine's nuclear facilities, including the Zaporizhzhia power plant currently under Russian control, as well as Moscow's nuclear sabre-rattling, have fueled fears of escalation throughout the 14-month Russia-Ukraine war.

But with little official commentary from Moscow or Kyiv about the Russian strikes on targets across Western Ukraine, which took place on the night of May 13, 2023, striking images of a huge explosion recorded near Khmelnytskyi added fuel to social media speculation and resurrected existing narratives about the so-called "depleted uranium" shells.

Newsweek Misinformation Watch assessed the veracity of the claims and speculation around the subject in an attempt to figure out what really occurred in the Western Ukrainian town.

A video of a huge fireball appearing on the horizon has been shared widely on social media over the past 48 hours, with several reports in English, Ukrainian and Russian media geolocating the blast to an area near Khmelnytskyi, the administrative center of the Khmelnytskyi Oblast, about 100 miles from Ukraine's border with Moldova.

"According to information, the value of the ammunition destroyed in the Khmelnytsky ammunition depot is about 500 million dollars," said a post by Spriter, viewed nearly 7 million times.

"Another shot from Khmelnitsky shows huge mushroom cloud rising into the sky after Russian Aerospace Forces hit Ukrainian military objects in the city earlier in morning," said a post by Trollstoy that received nearly 230,000 views.

"The Russians smoked a huge amount of American and European tax money in Ukraine's Khmelnitsky," another post claimed.

"Hearing rumors that there was a big stockpile of depleted uranium ammunition in the warehouses that got blown up. Pretty big oof if true," tweeted Russians With Attitude, an account known to share pro-Kremlin propaganda.

The sheer ferocity of the blast, including the sinister-looking mushroom-like cloud of smoke rising in its aftermath, also fueled unverified claims about various types of munitions that could have been blown up and nuclear-weapon-related speculation.

"If the NATO arms depots that Russia is blowing up contain depleted uranium munitions as supplied by the UK those areas of Ukraine may become hotbeds for lung cancer and birth defects as the dust from those exploded DU [depleted uranium] munitions can contaminate large areas of land for decades," wrote Kim Dotcom, a prominent anti-globalist commentator and conspiracy theorist.

Other accounts on Twitter and Telegram posted charts of purportedly "rising radiation levels" that, they claim, were observed in the hours following the strike. These were amplified by multiple reports in Russian media outlets.

Some posts referenced and shared graphs taken from SaveEcoBot, a Ukrainian service monitoring nuclear radiation levels across the country, as well as graphs attributed to the European Commission.

"Gamma radiation In #Khmelnitsky, Western Ukraine, after the explosion of an ammunition depot with reportedly depleted uranium weapons," a tweet by another pro-Moscow account claimed.

A number of these sensationalist and incendiary claims were quickly picked up and amplified by U.S.-based social media accounts, including right-wing commentator Chuck Callesto and the Gateway Pundit publication.

What We Know, What We Don't

While not all of the facts and information about the multiple strikes on Western regions of Ukraine have been fully established, there are several elements to the viral conspiracy narrative that are provably false, misleading or lack evidence.

First of all, the shelling, which took place in the early hours of Saturday, May 13, was widely reported in local and international media, with officials on the ground saying that at least 21 civilians were injured in the attack that involved multiple drones and missiles.

Local authorities said that schools and medical institutions, administrative buildings, industrial facilities and private homes were damaged by the explosions......