Video of Explosion in Ukraine Dates Back to 2023
The Claim
A huge explosion reported near the city of Khmelnytskyi in Western Ukraine. Reportedly "depleted uranium" storage facility was hit.
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Emerging story
Recently, social media users have circulated a video claiming it shows a uranium explosion in western Ukraine.
Several accounts on X have shared the video with the caption: "A huge explosion reported near the city of Khmelnytskyi in western Ukraine. Reportedly, a depleted uranium storage facility was hit."
Misbar’s Analysis
Misbar investigated the circulating video and found the claim to be misleading.
After reverse-searching key frames from the video, Misbar’s team found it originated in May 2023.
Khmelnytskyi Drone Attack in May 2023
In February 2022, Russia launched a military invasion of Ukraine, significantly escalating the Russo-Ukrainian War. In May 2023, Khmelnytskyi, a city with 290,000 inhabitants in western Ukraine, was attacked by 21 drones targeting an army missile silo, causing an enormous fireball.
“Not all drones were destroyed that night—17 out of 21 UAVs were intercepted. Four struck the Khmelnytskyi region,” said Yuriy Ihnat, spokesman for the Air Force of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
The explosion from the four drone strikes on the army base damaged surrounding residential houses and other buildings. Air defenses intercepted another 17 drones.
The attack drone targeted an ammunition storage facility, one of the area's vital infrastructure sites, located outside the neighborhoods.
Recent Clashes in the Kursk Region
According to Air Force Commander Mykola Oleshchuk, Ukrainian air defense shot down 53 of the 57 Shahed-type attack drones that Russia launched overnight on August 11.
Russia launched the drones from the port town of Primorsko-Akhtarsk on the shore of the Sea of Azov and targeted Balaklava in Crimea, the Kursk region, and the town of Yeysk in Krasnodar Krai.
Missile fragments struck residential buildings in the Brovary neighborhood of Kyiv Oblast, according to Ukraine's State Emergency Service. During rescue attempts, the remains of a 35-year-old father and his 4-year-old son were discovered beneath the collapsed buildings.
The Russian Defense Ministry claimed that its soldiers shot down 35 drones and four missiles fired by Ukraine overnight.
The Ukrainian advance into the western Kursk region has covered more than 1,000 square kilometers (386 square miles) of Russia’s neighboring Kursk region. This has become a major embarrassment for the Kremlin, marking the furthest point of advancement since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine began in February 2022.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy stated for the first time that the Ukrainian military operates within the Kursk region.
Moscow’s Counter-Terrorism Operation in Kursk
Moscow has been rushing to stop the strike. Russian officials launched a massive counter-terrorism operation in Kursk and two other border regions, and tens of thousands of people were evacuated from the city.
The Institute for the Study of War (ISW), a conflict monitoring group based in the United States, said in its most recent assessment on Sunday that geolocated footage and Russian reporting from Saturday suggested that Ukrainian forces held their positions in the region and made marginal advances.
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