Ukraine will receive nuclear weapons from France and Great Britain and will use them to blackmail Western countries, as it seeks to control the entire world, according to a false narrative launched by the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
NEWS: Western countries do not realize they have turned Ukraine into a monster, which “will devour them first”. The official representative of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Russia, Maria Zakharova, spoke about the consequences of Western aid offered to Kyiv.
“They have created and formed such a monster, which will devour them first, because this monster is insatiable and extremely envious. This monster was promised power over the whole world from the very beginning, and it still hasn't obtained it”, the diplomat emphasized.
Zakharova indicated that, for the time being, Ukraine “still has certain limitations” in the military field, but these will disappear if Great Britain and France transfer a nuclear bomb to it. “They will simply put what Paris or London gave them directly under the doors of these EU institutions and start the countdown until they are given what they need”, she concluded.
Previously, the Foreign Intelligence Service of Russia announced that Paris and London intend to provide Kyiv with a nuclear bomb. Great Britain and France supposedly intend to mask the transfer of nuclear weapons as an independent development by Ukraine.
NARRATIVES: 1. The West is transforming Ukraine into a “monster” that will threaten Europe. 2. Great Britain and France are preparing the transfer of a nuclear bomb to Kyiv. 3. Russia is a victim of a Western conspiracy, being forced to defend itself.
PURPOSE: To discourage Western support for Kyiv. To justify the aggression of the Russian Federation. To spread fear among the Russian and European public.
WHY THE NARRATIVES ARE FALSE: Maria Zakharova’s claim about the West creating “a monster” through the support granted to Ukraine reverses the reality of the military conflict. Ukraine did not attack the Russian Federation and did not trigger the war. The large-scale invasion was launched by Russia in February 2022, following the annexation of Crimea in 2014 and the military, financial and logistical support provided to separatist militias in Donbas. It was not Western aid did that caused the war. Rather, it was granted as a reaction to Russian aggression.
Western support consists of deliveries of defensive weaponry, ammunition, anti-aircraft defense systems, logistical equipment and financial assistance for the functioning of state institutions. Anti-aircraft systems provided by Western states, including Romania, are used for intercepting Russian missiles and drones that hit cities, power plants, hospitals, and critical infrastructure. In the absence of these systems, the number of civilian victims would be higher, and Ukraine's capacity to defend its population would be seriously affected. To describe this support as the creation of “a monster” ignores its defensive nature.
Ukraine relies on Western support to maintain its lines of defense. Kyiv does not seek a military confrontation with European states and has no expansionist ambitions. Furthermore, a state facing major economic and logistical difficulties and fighting for its own survival has neither the capacity nor the interest to launch claims against the partners who support it. The phrase “insatiable monster” is an alarmist metaphor meant to induce fear and demonize a state in a defensive war.
Accusations regarding the transfer of a nuclear bomb are not supported by any document, report or evidence of any kind. They are based exclusively on statements from Russian officials and services, without any independent confirmation. Moreover, such an operation would involve large-scale political, logistical and technical decisions, impossible to keep secret in the context of strict international monitoring of nuclear materials.
Ukraine is a signatory part of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons and thus relinquished its nuclear arsenal inherited after the collapse of the USSR based on the 1994 Budapest Memorandum in exchange for security guarantees. At that time, Ukraine held the third-largest nuclear arsenal in the world and accepted its transfer to Russia, a signatory of the memorandum. Subsequently, Moscow violated these commitments: instead of observing the territorial integrity of a state that renounced its nuclear arsenal, it occupied territories and launched a large-scale military aggression.
The narratives regarding the nuclear bomb or “dirty bomb” are periodically promoted in official Russian discourse. They were also invoked in previous years without being supported by evidence and were subsequently abandoned without clarification when they could not be confirmed. The return of these themes indicates a communication pattern that seeks to maintain a state of alert and justify escalation.
In discursive terms, the “monster” metaphor is used to shift responsibility. Instead of a discussion about Russian aggression and its human and material effects, attention is directed toward a hypothetical nuclear threat, difficult to demonstrate and understand, attributed to Ukraine and the West. Thus, Russia is presented as reacting to an existential danger, and the war is reframed as a preemptive action. This narrative removes the real conflict from the foreground - a regional war lasting over a decade and a large-scale invasion in its fourth year, with thousands of victims and widespread destruction. Therefore, the discussion is not about what Russia has done and why it violated international norms, but what Ukraine might do, someday, based on speculative scenarios.
BACKGROUND: The Russian Foreign Intelligence Service announced that France and the United Kingdom are allegedly preparing the illegal transfer of nuclear weapons to Ukraine, while President Putin's spokesperson, Dmitry Peskov, said that Moscow will consider this information in peace negotiations. This line of communication is constantly amplified by other representatives of Russian diplomacy, in particular Maria Zakharova, one of the Kremlin's main mouthpieces. Since the start of the full-scale invasion, her discourse has frequently included accusations regarding alleged “dirty bombs”, secret laboratories, or nuclear plans attributed to Ukraine and the West. None of these scenarios were subsequently confirmed. Despite this, the Russian media has not offered any explanations or corrections, but has continued to launch new, similar accusations.
