Britain on Tuesday confirmed it would send depleted uranium tank rounds to Ukraine, sparking protests from Moscow.
Baroness Goldie, the defence minister, said the shells would be delivered for use with the squadron of Challenger 2 battle tanks promised to Kyiv.
“Such rounds are highly effective in defeating modern tanks and armoured vehicles,” she said in response to a parliamentary written question.
The so-called “silver bullet” rounds, known for their ability to pierce heavy tank armour, are controversial because of potential impacts to human health.
Critics have argued that the shells can be directly linked to leukaemia, kidney damage and lung cancer.
There is no international ban on the use of tank-busting rounds made from depleted uranium, which is a by-product of uranium enrichment.
Scaled back use of shells
But after a number of controversies, Western militaries have scaled back their use of such shells.
State media belonging to governments with anti-Nato tenancies often focus on the US military’s large use of depleted munitions during the 2003 Iraq War.
Washington promised to stop using the armour-penetrating rounds against ISIS targets after it emerged they were used on two strikes against the terror cult in 2015.
The same criticism was used by Maria Zakharova, Russia’s foreign ministry spokeswoman, who pointed to discoveries of contaminations after Nato’s campaign in Kosovo, where the shells were used.
“These shells not only kill, but infect the environment and cause oncology in people living on these lands,” she wrote on the Telegram messaging app on Tuesday.
“By the way, it is naive to believe that only those against whom all this will be used will become victims.
“In Yugoslavia, Nato soldiers, in particular the Italians, were the first to suffer. Then they tried for a long time to get compensation from Nato for lost health. But their claims were denied.”
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