U.K. Sending Depleted Uranium Shells to Ukraine Despite Russian Warning

The U.K. is planning to send armor-piercing tank rounds “which contain depleted uranium” to Ukraine, a British defense official said, despite strong-worded warnings from Russia that such an act would be treated as tantamount to using a nuclear dirty bomb. Responding to a written question on Monday, the U.K.’s minister of state at the Ministry of Defense, Baroness Goldie, said the depleted uranium rounds would be given to Kyiv alongside a squadron of Challenger 2 tanks. “Such rounds are highly effective in defeating modern tanks and armored vehicles,” Goldie added. Though exposure of the outside of the body to depleted uranium is not considered a serious risk, its particles can cause a “serious health hazard” if inhaled or ingested, according to the EPA. In January, Konstantin Gavrilov, head of the Russian delegation in Vienna on arms control, said the Kremlin would consider such ammunition being sent to Ukraine “as the use of dirty nuclear bombs against Russia with all the ensuing consequences,” according to the BBC.