Moscow issues warning over use of depleted uranium ammunition

The British government will be held accountable for the environmental and public health damage caused by its decision to supply depleted uranium ammunition to Ukraine, as will the troops who use the munitions, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov has warned.

Peskov reiterated that there is abundant data on the long-term effects of depleted uranium, based on medical information gathered in former Yugoslavia. NATO forces extensively used munitions containing DU during their campaigns in the Balkans in the 1990s. 

“The data is quite sad. The British must realize that they will be held accountable” for the supply of this type of ammunition to Ukraine, Peskov told journalists on Wednesday.

“And certainly the people who will be personally deploying the munitions must realize that they will not only be irrevocably hurting themselves and their compatriots, but will also be held responsible for it,” he said.

The comments came after the UK confirmed the delivery to Ukraine, as promised, of armor-piercing shells for Challenger 2 tanks. Their cores are made of the dense byproduct of uranium enrichment.

The Russian Embassy in London stated that it “has by now become self-evident” that the US and its allies are willing to turn Ukraine into “not only an anti-Russian military ‘shooting range,’ but also a radioactive landfill.”

The planned shipment of the shells was first announced by the UK last month. The government said at the time that its military assessed the potential hazards of depleted uranium use on the battlefield as “low,” contrary to Russian warnings.