UK Ministry of Defense has already sent "thousands" of depleted uranium shells to Ukraine
Challenger 2 tanks and depleted uranium ammunition "are now under the control of the Armed Forces of Ukraine
The UK Ministry of Defense has reported that the depleted uranium shells supplied to Ukraine amount to "thousands" of units.
Source. This was reported by the BBC.
In particular, the website of the British Parliament today published three short responses from the Ministry of Defense to written requests from Kenny McAskill, a member of the House of Commons from the Scottish Alba party, about depleted uranium core shells for British Challenger 2 tanks. The requests were sent on April 18.
In one of them, the MP asked how many such shells had already been shipped and how many of them had already been used. Deputy Secretary of Defense James Heapey answered:
"We have shipped thousands of Challenger 2 munitions to Ukraine, including armor-piercing depleted uranium rounds. For reasons of operational security, we will not comment on the consumption of the supplied shells by Ukraine."
McAskill also asked whether the ministry tracks where depleted uranium shells were used. Heapey replied that the UK-supplied Challenger 2 tanks and depleted uranium munitions "are now under the control of the Ukrainian Armed Forces" and the British Ministry of Defense does not track where the Ukrainian Armed Forces use these munitions.
Finally, in his third question, MacAskill asked whether the Ministry of Defense had any obligation to help Ukraine remove the remains of depleted uranium shells after the conflict ends. Heapey replied that Britain is committed to rebuilding Ukraine after the war, but that it has no such obligation.
The supply of depleted uranium shells to Ukraine became known in late March. The radioactivity of depleted uranium is lower than that of even natural uranium, but this did not prevent the Russians from launching propaganda comparing such munitions to a "dirty bomb." On March 25, Putin used this news as an excuse to announce the deployment of tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus.
Background. As a reminder, the British Ministry of Defense reported that Russia was "deliberately trying to misinform" about depleted uranium shells.
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