LUGANSK, March 22. /TASS/. The United Kingdom is trying to provoke Russia to use nuclear weapons by providing Ukraine with depleted uranium munitions, Andrey Marochko, a retired lieutenant colonel in the Lugansk People’s Republic’s (LPR) People’s Militia, told TASS on Wednesday.

"The fact that Great Britain has announced plans for such weapons supplies only makes it clear that they are ready to go to any lengths to escalate the situation as much as possible. Naturally, the main goal is to force Russia to use its strategic weapons with nuclear warheads. In any case, such statements should be taken very seriously because most of what Western countries mentioned is already being supplied to Ukraine," he noted.

On Monday, British Defense Minister Annabel Goldie said, in a written response to an inquiry by a member of the House of Lords, that the British authorities would provide Ukraine with shells containing depleted uranium, which were particularly effective against armored vehicles.

When commenting on the British authorities’ decision on Tuesday, Russian President Vladimir Putin stated that Moscow would have to react accordingly to the fact that "the collective West is about to start using weapons with a nuclear component." The Russian Embassy in the United Kingdom warned London against sending such munitions to Kiev. The embassy stressed in a statement that the step was fraught with the risk of further escalation and the use of such ammunition would negatively affect the well-being of local residents.