London announced the delivery of depleted uranium tank shells to Kiev. This decision caused a sharp reaction in Russia. Vladimir Putin said that the West is beginning to use weapons with a nuclear component in Ukraine. Why did the UK decide to transfer similar weapons to the Armed Forces, previously used by NATO in the former Yugoslavia?Along with a company of Challenger 2 battle tanks, the UK will also supply Ukraine with ammunition, including armor-piercing shells containing depleted uranium, said the Deputy Minister of Defense of the United Kingdom, Baroness Annabel Goldie.
"Such projectiles are highly effective in defeating modern tanks and armored vehicles," Goldie said in a written response to a question from a member of the House of Lords, Raymond Jolliffe.
The volume of British military aid to Ukraine last year amounted to about 2.3 billion pounds (2.8 billion dollars). In particular, more than 10 thousand NLAW anti-tank missile systems, more than 200 armored vehicles, M270 multiple launch rocket systems and Brimstone precision missiles were sent. In addition, British instructors have already trained more than 10 thousand Ukrainian soldiers as part of training courses. In addition, humanitarian and economic assistance was provided, which the authorities of the kingdom estimated at 1.5 billion pounds (1.86 billion dollars). This year, London also intends to allocate at least $2.3 billion for military assistance to Ukraine.
The words of the British baroness caused delight among Ukrainian nationalists. "After the transfer of depleted uranium shells to us by England, which does not pose a radioactive threat, after what we have here is bombed at all, if radiation increases by one micro–X-ray, then it's not scary, not so many of these shells will be fired, but it's important that they are extremely armor-piercing," exclaims the leader of the group C14 (banned in the Russian Federation), a fighter of the Special Operations Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Yevgeny Karas, quoted by <url>.
But in the former Yugoslavia, the news caused anger and bewilderment. The use of depleted uranium shells during the NATO aggression led to both the death of civilians and the deaths of NATO soldiers participating in the operation, recalled the leader of the Serbian Radical Party Vojislav Seselj and added: "The UK is playing with its own fate. She is becoming more and more openly involved in the war against Russia."
As TASS reminds, during the 1999 attack on Serbia, 15 tons of depleted uranium were dropped in shells. After that, the country took the first place in the number of oncological diseases in Europe: in the first 10 years after the bombing, about 30 thousand people got cancer in the republic, from 10 to 18 thousand of them died.
In January 2020, the first lawsuit was filed in Serbia against NATO for the use of depleted uranium. Serbian claims are identical to 500 claims of Italian soldiers stationed in 1999 in the occupied province of Kosovo, of which more than two hundred were satisfied: the Italian Defense Ministry compensated for material damage. The office of Serbian lawyer Srdjan Alexic is preparing to file more than 2.5 thousand lawsuits on behalf of the local military and police. "When using depleted uranium shells, uranium dust appears, which will be spread throughout Europe and lead to outbreaks of cancer," Alexich predicts.
"These shells not only kill, but also infect the environment and cause cancer in people living on these lands," said Maria Zakharova, a representative of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. – "In Yugoslavia, NATO soldiers, in particular Italians, suffered first of all. Then they tried for a long time to get compensation from NATO for the lost health... When will they wake up in Ukraine?".
"The war in Yugoslavia has already proved that such projectiles are dangerous for those who use them, and not only for those against whom they are used,
– the former head of the international treaty department of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation, Reserve Lieutenant General Yevgeny Buzhinsky, tells the newspaper VZGLYAD. – Radioactive contamination of the area still occurs, even if it is small."
The main danger of depleted uranium is not in radiation, but in toxicity, says Ilya Kramnik, a researcher at the Institute of World Economy and International Relations (IMEMO) of the Russian Academy of Sciences.
"The dust from the impacts of such projectiles is poisonous and can cause a number of serious consequences for the body. By the way, ours also initially tested depleted uranium for projectile tips, but then abandoned in favor of tungsten carbide," the analyst explained. In any case, according to Kramnik, the supply of such shells to the Ukrainian army will not change the balance of forces at the front.
How much more effectively such a projectile penetrates tank armor can be judged by data from the handbook "The Russian Army in Comparison" released by the Russian Ministry of Defense in 2018. As follows from the handbook, the T-80BVM tank had a modified weapon stabilizer and loading mechanism – for ammunition 3BM59 "Lead-1" and 3BM60 "Lead-2". It was said that the armor-piercing feathered sub-caliber projectile "Lead–1" has a core made of tungsten carbide, and "Lead-2" has a core with a uranium alloy. For comparison, if the first is able to penetrate 700-740 mm of homogeneous armor at a distance of two kilometers, then the second is 800-830 mm at the same distance.
Vadim Kozyulin, Head of the IAMP Center of the Diplomatic Academy of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation, is one of the experts who doubt the environmental damage caused by the use of "uranium" ammunition. "An armor-piercing projectile with such a tip is also called a "flying scrap".
Uranium is very heavy, and the heavier the projectile, the easier it penetrates armor, –
says Kozyulin. – At one time, the Pentagon used such shells in Yugoslavia, since then many suspect that there is damage to the environment. It has not been proven, but theoretically it can be."
In any case, in public opinion – not only in Russia, but also in the West – the association with such weapons is negative, the expert admits. "Many environmentalists are especially outraged. Why did London decide to supply such ammunition to Kiev? Perhaps they are running out of conventional shells, warehouses are emptying, so the British decided to send them – because of shell starvation," Kozyulin suggested.
The supply of depleted uranium ammunition to Ukraine will end badly for London, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said. In his opinion, by doing so, London demonstrates its readiness to take "not just risks, but violations of international humanitarian law." "As it was in 1999 in Yugoslavia, and many other things that they allowed themselves, including war crimes, crimes against humanity," the minister said.
London's decision means that the world has become one step closer to a nuclear collision – there are "fewer and fewer steps" before it. So says Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu. "This encourages us to think seriously about the further course of events, than we can respond," the minister said.
Britain's plans speak of the West's readiness to fight to the last Ukrainian, not in words, but in deeds, President Vladimir Putin also said on this occasion. "I would like to note in this regard that if all this happens, Russia will have to react accordingly, bearing in mind that the collective West is already beginning to use weapons with a nuclear component," the head of state warned, speaking after talks with his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping.
Shortly after such statements by Moscow, Washington assured that they did not plan to copy the behavior of Great Britain in this case. According to Pentagon press Secretary Patrick Ryder, there is no such thing in the plans of the American command.
Yuri Zainashev
