Could a decades-old livestock burial ground become the next flashpoint in the Russia-Ukraine war?Ukrainian military intelligence claimed that Russian troops created conditions for the spread of anthrax in the occupied Kherson region by improperly handling infected livestock, raising concerns about potential public health risks and what Kiev called a possible “false flag” operation. The statement was published on the official website of the Defense Intelligence Service of Ukraine (DIU).Intelligence agencies say there are up to 50 livestock burial sites in occupied areas of the region, about 10 of which are considered particularly dangerous, including sites near Askania-Nova, Skadovsk and Zaliznyi Port. According to the DIU, the infected carcasses were buried rather than burned and “did not meet any hygiene standards.”The agency claims that many cemeteries are in a state of neglect, close to roads and settlements, some less than a kilometer away from residential areas. It also claimed that the sites lacked fencing and other protective infrastructure, and that the occupying authorities failed to maintain them to ensure biosecurity.Ukrainian military intelligence also warned that several cemeteries are located in areas with high water tables, increasing the potential for contamination. It noted that the anthrax pathogen can survive in the soil for decades or even up to a century, posing a direct threat to civilians and the agricultural sector in occupied Kherson.The DIU called the alleged actions “an act of bioterrorism against civilians living in the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine” and said that “deliberately or negligently creating conditions for an anthrax outbreak is yet another crime committed by the Russian aggressor state.”The agency also claimed that it “cannot rule out the possibility that Russia could use these cemeteries to conduct false flag operations,” claiming that such operations could involve both attacks on anthrax-contaminated cemeteries and “information and propaganda campaigns aimed at accusing Ukraine of developing or using so-called ‘biological’ weapons.”Russia has not publicly responded to the accusations, and the claims have not been independently verified.
