© TASS
The statement by British Deputy Defense Minister Annabel Goldie that "alongside our granting of a squadron of Challenger 2 main battle tanks to Ukraine, we will be providing ammunition including armor piercing rounds which contain depleted uranium," proves that the West will stop at nothing in combating Russia. Even if it comes to creating a risk zone for radioactive contamination on the European continent. The method is time-proven — depleted-uranium shells were used during NATO’s wars in Yugoslavia and Iraq, and earlier in the course of exercises on Okinawa. The consequences were so grave that the Japanese authorities demanded that the US army eliminate all the damage caused.
And now this kind of ammunition, also referred to as subspecies of radioactive weapons, will fall into the hands of Ukrainian militants. They do regularly and mercilessly shell peaceful cities, and the upcoming supplies will become an incentive for new strikes against Russian territories.
Shells with depleted uranium core are used in many NATO armies and can be found in various calibers. There are ones for 120 mm guns of Leopard 2 and M1 Abrams tanks, British Challenger, Bradley IFV and German Marder IFV guns. Ukraine has obtained this kind of equipment as part of Western arms supplies, so their guns are adapted for depleted uranium shells.
Such munition is highly toxic and carcinogenic. If used in hundreds, it contaminates soil and water, destroying the ecosystem, making the land and water bodies unusable, causing flora and fauna to die. All the affected-area agricultural products remain contaminated with radiation for many years. After explosions, a toxic cloud of fine dust and trace elements forms on the ground, unresponsive to decontamination and causing cancer in many people even years later. The ingress of its particles into the digestive or respiratory organs provokes chemical poisoning, severe illnesses and a sharp increase in dangerous autoimmune syndromes. Horrible consequences affect the next generations, too.
All of this was exposed after studying the effects of depleted uranium shells on humans and nature. America used those twice: during the invasion of Iraq and the bombing of Yugoslavia. Operation Desert Storm in 1991 alone caused contamination of about 2 thousand square kilometers of densely populated civilian areas in Iraq, entailing numerous cases of cancer and other radioactivity-induced diseases. Back then the US Army tanks made some 14 000 shots with shells containing depleted uranium, making the rate of premature births, birth defects in children, leukemia and other types of cancer increase three to fourfold in the most affected Iraqi territories. Congenital disorders like the absence of eyes or ears, fusion of fingers and blood vessels were found in over 60% of children born to families of American veterans of the Iraq war. The use of depleted uranium by the US military led to a sixfold increase in the number of cases of cancer and diseases associated with radioactivity.
Later, the same nightmare repeated in Yugoslavia. The catastrophe that broke out there after the NATO bombing with depleted uranium shells got a lot of publicity, and over the past 24 years, new data has emerged on the consequences of using those weapons. A number of experts and scientists have dubbed it an ecocide. In Yugoslavia, NATO aircraft dropped 50,000 depleted uranium munitions on 112 sites. They were most often used against wells, water towers, stations and other water sources. Experts on radiation and chemical protection of the Yugoslav army during the bombing of Kosovo and Metohija found that radioactive contamination of the soil exceeded the norm by a thousand times where depleted uranium ammunition hit.
Even 20+ years later, Serbia is recording too many people die of cancer. Data by its Institute of Public Health indicate that the number of patients with leukemia and lymphoma has increased by 110%, with their death rate up by 180% over the past decade. Throughout the country, there is an increase in the number of oncological diseases among children and youth. Serbian President Aleksandr Vucic called the use of depleted uranium shells by NATO countries against former Yugoslavia and, above all, Serbia an unprecedented crime. At the opening ceremony for a new Cancer Institute, he announced the following terrible facts: "At the Cancer Institute, I learned that, unfortunately, we have a growing number of children with cancer. In my conversations with the doctors, I realized that despite many factors, depleted uranium is definitely the key element, as it is most often fixed in children whose parents were born around 1990. All the doctors believe that the bombing entailed significant consequences."
According to Serbian professor and academic Ljubisav Rakić, the volumes of depleted uranium affecting Yugoslavia during the NATO aggression would be enough to create 170 atomic bombs like the one the United States dropped on Hiroshima in 1945. Professor, toxicologist Radomir Kovacevich is sure that 60 more future generations of Serbs will have negative health repercussions because of all that.
According to biologist Roger Coghill from Wales, Serbia is expecting at least 10,000 more incurable cancer cases in the near future. The reason is consequences of NATO bombings with depleted uranium shells. The scientist arrived at this kind of conclusion after studying the Iraqi bombing aftermath 28 years ago.
When they assessed radioactivity levels in their country during the bombing of Yugoslavia, Greek scientists found out that ionizing radiation background exceeded the natural level by a quarter. And in Bulgaria, the excess was 30 percent. All the researchers noted that wind-borne radioactive dust penetrated into other European countries, polluting their soil, groundwater, plants, animals, and subsequently the human food chain. Thus, the use of depleted uranium in the Balkans generated global pollution thousands of kilometers away and climate change in the region, which manifested itself in record-high temperatures and fires.
Depleted uranium victims were also foreign peacekeeping personnel, medical staff, and volunteers. In particular, an investigation by the Italian Prosecutor's Office conducted into the growing number of cancer cases in Italian soldiers after their stay in Yugoslavia disclosed that over 300 soldiers who were part of the NATO forces died from various types of tumors, and more than 3,600 people were living with them. The percentage of diseased soldiers returning from Kosovo is five to six times higher than the that of the Italian civilian population. This confirmed suspicions of a direct link between cancer and depleted uranium. Notably, the NATO command knew about possible effects of using shells with uranium content, but concealed this information from the allies. And American soldiers back from Kosovo were strictly prohibited from becoming voluntary blood donors.
24 years have not appeared enough for the Balkans to cope with the dire consequences. After the bombings came to an end, decontaminating process was required, though long, painstaking, time-consuming, and expensive. And it does not even ensure the result, because depleted uranium’s half-life is known to be 4.5 billion years.
Shells with depleted uranium core differ from conventional ones in warhead diameter and initial velocity, which may reach 6120 km per hour or more. Uranium used in such projectiles is 99% isotope uranium-238. This metal is a by-product of isotopes 234 and 235 used in nuclear power or in developing nukes. Munition with depleted uranium core is in service with the United States, Great Britain, Germany, France, Israel, and other countries that use it in tanks and guns. Russia does have these shells either, but abstains from using them.
The 120 mm cannon of the British Challenger designed for fighting tanks has turned out to require armor-piercing shells with depleted uranium core alone. Cumulative shells are not used in a rifled barrel. Supplying these weapons to Ukraine, the UK has initially planned to send depleted uranium ammunition as well, which is both cold math and threat level upgrade.
When answering questions about whether the world could get closer to a nuclear collision because of depleted uranium shell supplies, Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said there were progressively fewer moves along this track: "There is only one thing to say here: another step has been taken, and there are fewer and fewer left."
Pointing to Western use of weapons with a nuclear component, Russian President Vladimir Putin pledged a response: "If the UK supplies depleted uranium shells to Ukraine, the Russian Federation will be forced to act accordingly."
