What is depleted uranium from which Ukraine will buy bullets and why “not a dirty bomb” London announces that it will supply Kiev with ammunition with depleted uranium 03/21/2023, 18:20

Britain plans to supply depleted uranium shells to Ukraine. This is stated in Deputy Secretary of Defense Annabelle Goldie’s response to a request from Baron Hilton, a member of the House of Lords.

“We will supply Ukraine with a fleet of Challenger 2 battle tanks, as well as ammunition, including armor-piercing shells containing depleted uranium,” the report says.

Hilton asked the military department if the ammunition the UK was sending to Kiev contained depleted uranium.

Military analyst, retired colonel Viktor Litovkin in an interview with Lenta.ru reportedThat the use of depleted uranium ammunition by Ukraine can lead to both radioactive contamination of the soil and an increase in cancer among the population.

“This is not a nuclear war, of course, but the use of such ammunition will cause serious injury to people. The earth becomes infected, everything that grows on it becomes dangerous for humans. The Americans did the same when they bombed Yugoslavia. As a result, so far many people suffer from leukemia, suffer from oncology, ”explained Litovkin.

According to him, such shells will be used by Ukraine to hit the DPR, LPR, Kherson and Zaporozhye regions and will not reach the territory of Central Russia. At the same time, he stressed that Moscow does not use depleted uranium ammunition in the NMD.

“We are fighting with the maximum protection of the Ukrainian people, we do not attack the housing stock and civilians,” added the military expert.

Depleted uranium is more than 99% isotope of uranium-238. This metal is a byproduct of the production of the isotopes of uranium-234 and uranium-235, which are used in nuclear energy and nuclear weapons production. At the same time, depleted uranium is even less radioactive (about 40%) than natural uranium ore. Its half-life is 4.5 billion years.

At the same time, the metal has an extremely high density: about 2.5 times more than iron and only 16% less than the heaviest metals on the periodic table, osmium and iridium. Due to this property, depleted uranium is actively used, among other things, for the production of armor-piercing sub-caliber ammunition. Shells with a core made of this metal have a very high armor-piercing effect and cause significant damage behind barriers.

Depleted uranium core munitions are in service in many countries: the United States, England, Russia, Germany, France and Israel. Tanks are used as shells for armor-piercing weapons.

The American has depleted uranium ammunition for the Abrams tanks, and Washington has promised to hand over a batch of it to the Ukrainian Armed Forces. The United States used such shells during the Persian Gulf War, in Bosnia, during the bombing of Yugoslavia, and in the 2003 Iraq war.

There is no consensus on the consequences of using depleted uranium ammunition. 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, to which special storage and transport rules apply.

Some experts are confident that the use of depleted uranium ammunition, despite the low radioactivity, causes contamination of the area and hereditary diseases. The UK, the US and other NATO countries consider these versions unproven.

Experts interviewed by RBC in January 2023 to come Comparing depleted uranium ordnance with a dirty bomb is wrong because of the very low radioactive background.

“A dirty bomb is harmful in terms of radioactivity, bullets containing depleted uranium are poisonous and carcinogenic. They are very harmful, but in a different way,” said independent expert Alexander Khramchikhin.

According to Vasily Kashin, director of the Center for Comprehensive European and International Studies at the Higher School of Economics, projectiles with a depleted uranium core can be legally considered “a subspecies of radioactive weapons.”