US to arm Ukraine with controversial depleted-uranium munitions

The Kremlin said on Thursday the United States would have to answer for the “very sad consequences” of its decision to provide depleted uranium munitions to Ukraine.

The Pentagon on Wednesday announced an assistance package for Ukraine including armour-piercing depleted uranium ammunition for Abrams tanks.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Nato’s heavy use of such ammunition in bombing Yugoslavia in 1999 had caused a jump in cases of cancer and other diseases.

“These consequences are also felt by subsequent generations of those who somehow came into contact or were in areas where these weapons were used,” he told reporters, saying the same would now happen in Ukraine.

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The use of depleted uranium munitions is fiercely debated.

The International Coalition to Ban Uranium Weapons says ingesting or inhaling even depleted uranium dust can cause cancers and birth defects.

But a United Nations Environment Programme report on the impact of depleted uranium on Serbia and Montenegro, in then- ugoslavia, found “no significant, widespread contamination”.

The UN nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency, says studies in former Yugoslavia, Kuwait, Iraq and Lebanon “indicated that the existence of depleted uranium residues dispersed in the environment does not pose a radiological hazard to the population of the affected regions”.

The Pentagon on Wednesday announced a new package worth up to $175 million (€163 million) for Ukraine, including depleted uranium ammunition for Abrams tanks, the first time the US is sending the controversial armour-piercing munitions to Kyiv. Britain has already sent similar shells earlier this year.

On Wednesday, the Pentagon said the military aid would also include anti-armour systems, tactical air navigation systems and additional ammunition for High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (Himars).

The announcement coincides with top US diplomat Antony Blinken’s visit to Kyiv in a gesture of support as a Ukraine counteroffensive against occupying Russian troops grinds into its fourth month with only small gains.

Mr Blinken on Wednesday hailed progress in the Ukrainian counteroffensive and said of the fresh US package of support: “This new assistance will help sustain it and build further momentum.”

Washington previously announced it would send cluster munitions to Ukraine, despite concerns over the dangers such weapons pose to civilians. – Reuters