The United Kingdom, as part of the military aid provided to Ukraine, intends to send depleted uranium shells to the Armed Forces of Ukraine. This was announced by the Deputy Minister of Defense of the Kingdom, Annabelle Goldie. According to experts, although such munitions cannot be considered a nuclear weapon or a "dirty bomb", they pose a certain danger.
Recall that Putin issued a warning after information emerged about Britain's plans to supply Ukraine with depleted uranium shells.
"Today it became known that the United Kingdom, through the Deputy Head of the Ministry of Defense of the country, announced the supply of not only tanks to Ukraine, but also shells with depleted uranium. "It seems that the West has really decided to fight Russia not with words, but with deeds," Putin said.
British Deputy Defense Secretary Annabel Goldie said on Tuesday afternoon that, in addition to sending a Squadron of Challenger 2 tanks to Ukraine, London will also transfer munitions, including armor-piercing shells containing depleted uranium, to the Ukrainian Armed Forces.
According to retired colonel Viktor Litovkin, Ukraine's use of depleted uranium munitions could lead to both radioactive soil contamination and an increase in cancer in the population.
“This, of course, is not nuclear war, but the use of such munitions will lead to serious injuries to people. The earth becomes polluted, what grows on it becomes dangerous for people. The Americans did the same when they bombed Yugoslavia. As a result, until now, many people there suffer from leukemia, suffer from oncology, "he said.
In his opinion, such shells will be used by Ukraine to hit the DPR, LPR, Kherson and Zaporozhye regions and will hardly reach the territory of Central Russia.
Depleted uranium
Depleted uranium is more than 99% uranium-238 isotope. This metal is a by-product of the production of the isotopes uranium-234 and uranium-235, which are used in nuclear power and in the production of nuclear weapons. At the same time, depleted uranium is even less radioactive than natural uranium ore (about 40%). Its half-life is 4.5 billion years.
At the same time, the metal has an extremely high density: about 2.5 times that of iron and only 16% less than that of osmium and iridium, the heaviest metals in the periodic table. Due to this property, depleted uranium is actively used, among other things, for the manufacture of armor-piercing subcaliber ammunition. Projectiles with cores of this metal have a very high armor-piercing effect and lead to significant damage behind obstacles.
Munitions with depleted uranium cores are in service with many countries: USA, UK, Russia, Germany, France, Israel. They are used as shells for tanks and for armor weapons.
It should be noted that there is also depleted uranium ammunition for the American Abrams tanks, a batch of which Washington has promised to transfer to the Armed Forces of Ukraine. The United States also used such shells during the Persian Gulf War, in Bosnia, during the bombing of Yugoslavia and in the 2003 Iraq War.
Equally important, there is no consensus on the consequences of using depleted uranium munitions. Since this is a fairly new type of weapon, there is no document in the UN that restricts or prohibits its use.
Meanwhile, the 1980 Convention on the Physical Protection of Nuclear Material classifies depleted uranium as Category II nuclear material, subject to special storage and transport rules.
Some experts are sure that despite the low radioactivity, the use of depleted uranium munitions causes contamination of the area and hereditary diseases. Great Britain, the USA and other NATO countries consider these versions unproven.
They have concluded that the comparison of depleted uranium munitions with a "dirty bomb" is incorrect due to the very low radioactive background.
"A dirty bomb is radioactively harmful, while depleted uranium is toxic and carcinogenic. They are very harmful, but in a different way," said independent expert Alexander Khramchikhin.
