What are depleted uranium rounds UK has pledged to Ukraine, and what are the risks? – National – English SiapTV.com

Russia has threatened to escalate attacks in Ukraine after the British government announced it would supply Ukraine with munitions falsely claimed by Moscow to contain nuclear components.

The British Ministry of Defense on Monday confirmed that it would supply armor-piercing shells with depleted uranium to Ukraine.

Such rounds were developed by the US during the Cold War to destroy Soviet tanks, including the same T-72 tanks now facing Ukraine as it struggles to break the stalemate in the east.

Depleted uranium is a by-product of the uranium enrichment process needed to build nuclear weapons. The projectiles retain some radioactive properties, but they cannot cause a nuclear reaction like a nuclear weapon, said RAND nuclear expert and policy researcher Edward Geist.

This did not stop the Russians from loudly warning that the shells were opening the door for further escalation. In the past, they have assumed that war could escalate into the use of nuclear weapons.

Both the British Ministry and the White House denied Russia’s allegations. But munitions are dangerous even if they are not nuclear weapons.

A look at depleted uranium munitions:

Depleted uranium is a by-product of the process of creating rarer enriched uranium used in nuclear fuel and weapons. Although much less powerful than enriched uranium and cannot cause a nuclear reaction, depleted uranium is extremely dense—more dense than lead—a quality that makes it very attractive as a projectile.

“It’s so dense and has so much momentum that it just keeps going through the armor – and heats it up so much that it catches fire,” Geist said.

When fired, the depleted uranium munition becomes “essentially an exotic metal dart fired at an unusually high velocity,” said RAND senior defense analyst Scott Boston.

In the 1970s, the US Army began producing depleted uranium armor-piercing rounds and has since added it to composite tank armor to enhance it. He also added depleted uranium to ammunition fired by the Air Force A-10 attack aircraft, known as the tank destroyer. The US military is still developing depleted uranium munitions, specifically the M829A4 armor-piercing round for the M1A2 Abrams main battle tank, Boston said.

In response to an inquiry from the Associated Press, Pentagon spokesman Marine Lieutenant Colonel Garron Garn said in a statement Thursday that “The Department of Defense has been purchasing, stockpiling and using depleted uranium projectiles for several decades as they are a longstanding element of some conventional munitions.”

The shells “saved the lives of many servicemen in combat,” Garn said, adding that “other countries have also had depleted uranium shells for a long time, including Russia.”

Garn did not discuss whether the M1A1 tanks being prepared for Ukraine will contain depleted uranium armor modifications, citing operational safety.

President Vladimir Putin warned on Tuesday that Moscow “will respond appropriately given that the collective West is beginning to use weapons with a ‘nuclear component’.”

The British have “lost their bearings,” Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said, warning that the munitions were “a step towards accelerating the escalation.”

Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu called this statement “another step, and there is not much left.”

The White House called the Russian statements disinformation.

“Make no mistake, this is another installation through which the Russians drive a stake,” said US National Security Council spokesman John Kirby.

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Russia also has depleted uranium munitions and simply doesn’t want Ukraine to have it, according to a White House official who was not authorized to comment on the matter and spoke on condition of anonymity.

Representative of the Pentagon Brig Air Force. Gen. Pat Ryder said Monday that to his knowledge, the US has not sent depleted uranium munitions from its own arsenal to Ukraine.

While depleted uranium munitions are not considered nuclear weapons, their low-level radiation has prompted a UN monitoring body to call for caution in handling and to warn of potential radiation hazards.

Handling of such munitions “should be kept to a minimum and protective clothing (gloves) should be worn,” warns the International Atomic Energy Agency, adding that “a public awareness campaign may therefore be required to ensure that people avoid handling munitions.” “. . shells.

“This should be part of any risk assessment and such precautions should depend on the scale and amount of munitions used in the area.”

The IAEA notes that depleted uranium is mostly a toxic chemical and not a radiation hazard. The particles in aerosols can be inhaled or swallowed, and although most of them are excreted again from the body, some of them can enter the bloodstream and cause kidney damage.

“High concentrations in the kidneys can cause damage and, in extreme cases, kidney failure,” the IAEA said in a statement.

Geist said that the low radioactivity of the depleted uranium projectile “is a bug, not a feature” of the munition, and if the US military could find another material with the same density but without radioactivity, they would probably use it instead.

Depleted uranium ammunition was used in the 1991 Gulf War against Iraqi T-72 tanks and again during the 2003 invasion of the country, as well as in Serbia and Kosovo. American military veterans of those conflicts are wondering if their use led to the diseases they now face.

The speaker of the lower house of the Russian parliament, Vyacheslav Volodin, said that the supply of shells with depleted uranium could lead to “a tragedy on a global scale, which will primarily affect European countries.”

Volodin said that the use of such munitions by the United States in the former Yugoslavia and Iraq led to “radioactive contamination and a sharp increase in cancer.”

Associated Press staffers Aamer Madhani of Washington, DC, Frank Jordans of Berlin, and Menelaos Hadjikostis of Nicosia, Cyprus, contributed to this report.