Is it true that the NATO secret operations headquarters was destroyed as a result of the shelling of Kyiv?

In September 2024, reports appeared on Telegram channels that Russian troops had hit the secret headquarters of the North Atlantic Alliance in the Ukrainian capital. We have verified the accuracy of this news. 

Allegations that the secret NATO headquarters in Kyiv was destroyed during Russian shelling on the night of September 21 began spreading online on September 23. The publications did not provide any details - it was only reported that in total more than 20 military and infrastructure facilities were hit during the attack. As evidence, Telegram channels and media used a screenshot of news about the destruction of the alleged headquarters, taken from an unidentified website. 

This was reported on such Telegram channels as “Uncle Slava"(185,000 views at the time of writing this analysis), "Bocharik (yep, that same one)" (118,000) and "Alexander Semchenko"(97,000), as well as editions"Arguments and facts" And "Moskovsky Komsomolets"

Telegram channels and media outlets that spread the news refer to the same source: the publication of a certain Hal Turner, whom some of them call a famous American journalist. He is also listed as the author of the note from the viral screenshot.

Material about the destruction of NATO headquarters by a Russian missile was published at halturnerradioshow.com on September 21. Turner, citing “pro-Russian resistance in Ukraine,” lists objects allegedly destroyed or damaged as a result of the Russian attack last night. According to him, the secret NATO Operations Center, ammunition depots, bases for repairing military equipment, the training center of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and the main radio communication center of Ukrainian military intelligence were destroyed in Kyiv. According to Turner, the Russian military also hit a military unit in Kharkov, where at that time there were Azov units and “several groups of foreign mercenaries,” fuel storage facilities in the Poltava region, a hydroelectric power station in the Kyiv region, air defense installations in Cherkasy and Dnieper, oil storage and ammunition depots in Ivano-Frankivsk, and a military airfield in the nearby city of Kolomyia. 

As an illustration, Turner uses a photograph supposedly taken in Kyiv. It shows an explosion within an urban area at night. At the same time, details that clearly indicate that this happened in Kyiv are difficult to find in the picture. Turner did not indicate the author of the photograph.

Thanks to a reverse image search, Verified discovered that the photo was indeed taken in Kyiv, but almost three weeks before the publication of the note by a “famous American journalist.” A very similar photograph in a report on the consequences of the attack on September 2 used Ukrainian publication New Voice, the author of the photo is Reuters correspondent Gleb Garanich. In the Scanpix photo aggregator we found another of his works, also made on September 2 and completely matching the image used by Turner. However, such use of photographs in the media is a fairly common practice. 

By data Air Force of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, on the night of September 2, the Russian army attacked Ukraine with 35 missiles of various types and 23 attack drones, most of which were shot down. Head of the Kyiv City Military Administration Sergei Popko reportedthat air defense forces shot down more than ten missiles over the city, as well as an attack drone. Due to falling debris, fires broke out in different areas of the city, injuries received three people. Similar information brought and the mayor of the Ukrainian capital Vitaliy Klitschko. 

Popko comments on every shelling of Kyiv, but on September 21 such posts did not appear on his Telegram channel. There are none in the Klitschko channel either. “Verified” was unable to find publications by Ukrainian officials and media that confirm the statements from the viral publications. 

Moreover, the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation in its summary for September 21, it reported on military successes that were much less modest in comparison with Turner’s text: “Operational-tactical aviation, unmanned aerial vehicles, missile forces and artillery of groupings of troops of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation destroyed two warehouses of missile and artillery weapons, defeated a dry cargo ship with missiles and ammunition supplied to the Kyiv regime by Western countries, as well as accumulations of manpower and military equipment enemy in 153 areas." The Russian military department does not provide any details.

Spreading such baseless claims is typical of Turner. This is an American far-right conspiracy theorist who hosts his own radio program and the same name. website. Turner is known as supporter neo-Nazi views and negative Holocaust. In 2009 he arrested for inciting violence - on his website, Turner urged readers to “take up arms” and use them against officials. He later threatened three judges on the U.S. Court of Appeals in Chicago. During the Turner investigation seized weapons and ammunition, and in court he claimed that he worked as an FBI informant and acted on their instructions. In August 2010, the publicist recognized guilty and was sentenced to 33 months in prison in December of the same year. 

After his release, Turner continued to spread conspiracy theories and fake news - for example, he regularly published false information about COVID-19 pandemic And vaccinations. The activist did not ignore the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine - in particular, in the spring of 2024, he did not cite sources statedthat French soldiers are dying en masse in the war.

Thus, the assertion that the secret NATO headquarters was destroyed in Kyiv on the night of September 21 has no basis at all. Its primary source is the website of an American far-right conspiracy theorist, and the information he presents is not confirmed by anything. 

Cover photo: social networks

Not true

What do our verdicts mean?

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