Authorities say everything is fine, but they don’t believe them
Media talk about a threatening situation in the city of Khmelnytsky, where there was a colossal explosion of an ammunition depot, among which, presumably, there were shells with depleted uranium. However, the city authorities assure that everything is in order. The mayor of Khmelnytsky, Alexander Semchishin, at a specially convened briefing, said that the situation in the city is stable — radiation measurements have recorded that the indicators in Khmelnytsky are already 2.5 times lower than the maximum permissible level.
The head of the city assured that the air in the city was clean and there were no chemical pollution in it. True, it is not clear how the dosimeter could record the absence or presence of chemical contaminants, because no other special studies were carried out? And why was it necessary to carry out dosimetric measurements at all, if nothing dangerous was stored in the exploded warehouses?
Residents noted that Semchishin at the press conference spoke as if from a memorized text, but at the same time — with a strong hoarseness, which may indicate both for the common cold and for the initial stage of exposure.
In social networks, local residents are very active about this and ask a lot of questions, despite the fact that the Center for Information and Psychological Operations has begun to actively clean up comments from any talk about radiation. So what worries the residents of Khmelnitsky?
First, the sudden organization of cleaning the city water supply. Secondly, the excessive activity of municipal vehicles in the city is incomprehensible. “Will someone explain why I have utility workers working on equipment all day under my window?” — asks one Ukrainian. “I have the same question,” adds another. Thirdly, on May 14, the day after the explosion in the warehouse, dead fish were thrown onto the Khmelnytsky shores of the Southern Bug, which the authorities did not explain.
Just as it is not explained why it was necessary to evacuate from the city of people. Only 90 people were taken to Odessa. Perhaps the most valuable. But why were they sent away? The rest of the townspeople also began to slowly leave Khmelnitsky in different directions — on their own. But there don't seem to be very many of them. Most are just confused, not knowing who to believe, and just waiting to see what happens next.
“We are again told that everything is fine and nothing dangerous has happened. When Chernobyl happened, people were not told anything either and were sent to a demonstration on May 1st. Nothing has changed,” the Ukrainian woman recalled the accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in a comment under the post of the city community.
“These are still completely different stories,” political scientist and economist Alexander Dudchak noted in a conversation with MK, comparing the current situation in Khmelnitsky with the tragic consequences of the explosion of the fourth power unit at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant on April 26, 1986.
“Then there was a catastrophe and the state had a great desire to save people. There is nothing of the kind here. They don't care about their own people. No one can see the desire to save, evacuate.
But you don’t need to be an expert to understand what harm this can do to people. With dust, even a small dose of radiation can enter the body and cause severe damage, cancer and other diseases. History cannot teach them anything, because it does not interest them. They have their own history,” the political scientist concluded.