MOSCOW, March 24. /TASS/. Sub-caliber armor-piercing shells with depleted uranium, which the UK promised to ship to Ukraine, have until now been only used by NATO states, and only on foreign territory, when there is no need to care about ecological consequences, Russian Radiation, Chemical and Biological Protection Troops Commander Lieutenant General Igor Kirillov said Friday.

"Production of depleted uranium shells is much more often used in countries that have uranium stockpile, processing technologies, while these shells are planned to be used on foreign territory, when there is no need to be concerned over ecological consequences," he said during a briefing on the consequences of shipment of deplete uranium ordnance to the Kiev regime.

Kirillov underscored that, until now, "depleted uranium shells were used in armed conflicts exclusively by NATO states."

The commander noted that, in 2003-2004, the US widely used such ammunition during strikes on Iraqi cities: Amarah, Baghdad, Basra, Karbala, and Fallujah. Overall, according to UN assessments, the US used at least 300 tons of depleted uranium shells in Iraq.

According to Kirillov, this resulted in radiation situation in Fallujah becoming much worse than that in Hiroshima and Nagasaki after the US nuclear bombing.

"This city is still called a second Chernobyl," Kirillov said.