(Dan Tri) – US media reported that Washington appears to be about to send depleted uranium ammunition to Ukraine, weapons that could pose a threat to Russian armored forces.
An American Abrams main battle tank (Photo: US Army).
The Wall Street Journal, citing well-informed sources, said that the US is said to be planning to send depleted uranium bullets to Ukraine and that these bullets will be fired from Abrams tanks to provide aid to Washington.
According to sources, over the past few months, US President Joe Biden’s administration has discussed whether or not to send depleted uranium ammunition to Ukraine due to concerns about the impact of these weapons on the environment and health.
However, a US official told the Wall Street Journal that there currently appears to be no barriers for Washington to issue this type of ammunition to Ukraine.
Depleted uranium is a byproduct of enriching uranium for use as fuel or nuclear weapons.
This type of ammunition is especially effective in armor-piercing attacks against tanks and armored vehicles.
Newsweek quoted experts as saying that when Ukraine deploys depleted uranium bullets, Russian tanks `will be vulnerable from every position, `even in places with the thickest armor.`
According to experts, this weapon can give Ukraine an advantage in tank battles with Russia when it launches a large-scale counterattack campaign on more than 1,000km of the front line.
Previously, in March, Britain said it would send depleted uranium ammunition to Ukraine for use on Challenger-2 tanks despite Russia’s previous warning that Moscow would take countermeasures.
In April, Britain confirmed that it would begin sending this type of ammunition to Ukraine.
Ammunition-poor uranium is controversial as the United Nations Environment Program describes it as a heavy metal that is chemically and radioactively toxic.
Meanwhile, the UK Ministry of Defense emphasized that the country’s military has used depleted uranium in armor-piercing bullets for decades and that these bullets have nothing to do with nuclear weapons.
London maintains that the health and environmental risks posed by depleted uranium are low, citing a 2007 British government study.
On the other hand, according to expert Doug Weir of the Observatory on Environment and Conflict, when depleted uranium bullets strike targets, they fragment and burn, creating uranium particles that are chemically toxic if inhaled by humans.
The Russian military warns that the use of depleted uranium ammunition is likely to cause harm to the health of Ukrainians and cause economic damage to agro-industrial activity in the region.