Tochnyi Weekly - 30 April 2023

This week on the 37th anniversary week of the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant disaster in 1986, we talk with a Ukrainian as we look back at how the disaster was handled by Soviet officials, the authorities' attempts to play down just how bad it was and how it affected the people of Ukraine - who were not told just how bad it was in the first few weeks. We also ateempt to understand why Russia decided to occupy the Chernobyl facility in the first weeks of the war. On the military front, we discuss the realistic prospects for achieving a fully integrated air defence system into Ukrine in the future and the technology required. We examine Ukraine’s dwindling supply of air defense missiles and other air defense assets and Russia’s missile production numbers. We also go into depth on the UK's efforts to help Ukraine procure long range missiles for the war, the possibility of getting the Patriot missile system as well as F-16s and the barriers that are holding up this crucial aid to Ukraine and what it means for the anticipated upcoming offensive from Ukraine to push Russia out of their sovereign territory. Misinformation and disinformation campaigns by Russia are analysed in detail with researcher, analyst, and recent graduate from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, E. Rosalie (@Info_Rosalie) who has been published in Nature academic journal and Rolling Stone Magazine. She also runs the Hoaxlines website, a project that researches media manipulation and unethical efforts to influence the public. Follow her account on twitter for updates on her research. We debate questions about how Russia uses the internet for its propaganda purposes.