Published By: Saurabh Verma
Last Updated: March 21, 2023, 23:28 IST
Depleted uranium is a by-product of the nuclear enriching course of used to make nuclear gasoline or nuclear weapons. (AFP file)
Putin was reacting to a written response by a UK defence minister, Annabel Goldie, who was requested whether or not “any of the ammunition currently being supplied to Ukraine contains depleted uranium”
Russian President Vladimir Putin stated Tuesday that Moscow could be “compelled to react” if Britain gives Ukraine military supplies, including armour piercing ammunition which contains depleted uranium.
“The United Kingdom… announced not only the supply of tanks to Ukraine, but also shells with depleted uranium. If this happens, Russia will be forced to react,” Putin instructed reporters after talks on the Kremlin together with his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping.
Putin was reacting to a written response by a UK defence minister, Annabel Goldie, who was requested whether or not “any of the ammunition presently being equipped to Ukraine comprises depleted uranium”.
She responded on Monday that “alongside our granting of a squadron of Challenger 2 main battle tanks to Ukraine, we will be providing ammunition including armour piercing rounds which contain depleted uranium.
“Such rounds are highly effective in defeating modern tanks and armoured vehicles.”
Depleted uranium is a by-product of the nuclear enriching course of used to make nuclear gasoline or nuclear weapons. It is round 60 p.c as radioactive as pure uranium.
Its heaviness lends itself to be used in armour piercing rounds because it helps them simply penetrate metal.
But the United Nations Environment Program has described it as a “chemically and radiologically poisonous heavy steel.”
Anti-nuclear organisation CND condemned the decision to send the ammunition, calling it an “additional environmental and health disaster for those living through the conflict” as poisonous or radioactive mud might be launched on impression.
“CND has repeatedly referred to as for the UK authorities to place an instantaneous moratorium on the usage of depleted uranium weapons and to fund long-term research into their well being and environmental impacts,” said CND general secretary Kate Hudson.
The munitions were used in conflicts in the former Yugoslavia and Iraq, and were suspected of being a possible cause of “Gulf War syndrome,” a set of debilitating signs suffered by veterans of the 1990-91 warfare.
Researchers from the UK’s University of Portsmouth examined victims to study ranges of residual depleted uranium of their our bodies and say their 2021 examine “conclusively” proved that none of them were exposed to significant amounts of depleted uranium.
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