Ukraine’s potential nuclear nightmare takes a new twist

The Russians are turning one of Zaporizhzhia’s reactors “hot.”

Journalism is too opaque and misunderstood. Chills gives a behind-the-scenes look at how dangerous investigative journalism gets made.

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Americans returning from Kyiv shortly after the meltdown at Chernobyl in 1986. (Photo by Bill Foley/Getty Images)

Nobody wants to cry wolf. But when dealing with information from the Russian government, the cry is more like the braying of an injured animal caught in a trap — it cannot be ignored. An investigation ensues, only leading to the discovery that there is no animal. There is no trap. The cries are manufactured, blasted out by speakers.

We’ve been witness to this messy fire hose of propaganda throughout Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, but perhaps never more powerfully so than when it comes to the occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant (ZNPP).

There is so much obfuscation around what is happening at the plant that a healthy dose of skepticism is required when trying to understand anything the Russians say. And the nuclear threat posed by the plant is complex — especially when all sides are saying different things. The situation has only gotten more confusing since yesterday.