Russia may be preparing a provocation involving anthrax in the Kherson region — intelligence

On the temporarily occupied territory of Kherson region, Russian invaders are creating conditions for the spread of the anthrax pathogen. Infected cattle carcasses are brought to burial pits and buried without observing sanitary standards.

On 23 June 2026, the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine reported this.

According to intelligence, up to fifty cattle burial pits have been recorded in the occupied part of the region. About ten of them pose the greatest danger. In particular, these concern sites near Askania-Nova, Skadovsk and Zaliznyi Port.

The Main Intelligence Directorate (GUR) notes that the occupiers do not burn the carcasses of infected animals, but simply bury them. Many of the burial sites are in a neglected state and are located near roads and settlements. The distance from some sites to residential areas is less than one kilometer.

The hazardous burials do not have continuous fences or other protective structures. The soil above the graves subsides over time, but the Russian occupation administration does not carry out the necessary maintenance of the sites.

Some of the cattle burial pits are located in areas with a high groundwater level. This, according to intelligence estimates, further increases the risk of soil and animal contamination and the spread of the anthrax pathogen.

The GUR emphasizes that uncontrolled burial of infected livestock poses a direct threat to the civilian population of the temporarily occupied territories and to the agricultural sector of Kherson region.

Intelligence also does not rule out that Russia may use the cattle burial pits to carry out a false-flag provocation. In particular, the occupiers could damage locations where the pathogen is concentrated and then accuse Ukraine of allegedly producing or using biological weapons.

The GUR called the deliberate or negligent creation of conditions for a possible anthrax outbreak another crime by the aggressor state, which may be interpreted as an act of biological terrorism against the civilian population.

Earlier we wrote:

• Billions of tons of water submerged towns and villages: anniversary of the Russian terrorist attack on the Kakhovka HPP
• People trapped without water, food and medicine: the Ministry of Foreign Affairs raises the alarm over the situation in occupied Kherson region
• In basements without food and water: near Oleshky and in the city itself 6,000 Ukrainians are awaiting rescue
• Oleshky — a ghost town of Russian occupation: water shortages and deadly roads
• In Mykolaiv region, bathing and fishing were banned after the Kakhovka HPP blast