In the video, a large fire appears in what appears to be a facility, and the publishers of the clip commented: “The Zaporizhia Nuclear Power Plant caught fire after a Russian attack.”
The publications added: “This is the largest nuclear plant in Europe, and if an explosion occurs in it, its impact will extend to areas that no one would expect.”
The video garnered thousands of interactions on social media in less than 12 hours, after Kyiv announced on Friday that Russian forces had entered the nuclear plant after being subjected to a night bombardment that led to a fire in part of it.
However, the video of the circulating fires has nothing to do with recent developments in Ukraine, as an audit of search engines indicated that the video was published on several news sites on August 14, 2015.
According to these websites, the video is from a fire that broke out in a chemical factory in Tianjin, China, in 2015.
At least 17 people were killed and more than 400 others injured, in a series of massive explosions that occurred at the time in a warehouse containing an explosive charge in the coastal city of Tianjin in northern China, according to “AFP”.
nuclear horror
But the video’s fabrication does not deny the occurrence of a fire at the Zaporizhia nuclear plant as a result of the Russian bombing.
The Ukrainian authorities said that Russian tank fire targeted the station on Thursday night, which led to a fire in a building designated for training and a laboratory, but no radiation leak was detected.
The Russian military took control of the plant, but “the crew controls the power buildings and ensures their operation in accordance with technical regulations for the safety of their operation,” the Ukrainian nuclear regulator said.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky saw the attack on the nuclear plant in Zaporizhia, Moscow resorting to “nuclear terror” that could endanger the continent.