All news

UK plan to supply depleted uranium shells to Kiev fraught with confrontation — US expert

Earlier on Monday, UK Minister of State for Defense Annabel Goldie said that British authorities will send shells to Ukraine that contain depleted uranium and that feature improved efficiency against armored vehicles

NEW YORK, March 22. /TASS/. The United Kingdom’s plans to supply depleted uranium shells to the Kiev government are "an extremely bad idea," fraught with Russia-NATO confrontation, a US expert has told TASS.

"I have just seen preliminary exchanges in the UK parliament on the proposal to supply weapons with depleted uranium," said David Speedie, a board member of the American Committee for US-Russia Accord.

"This seems to be an extremely bad idea, for two reasons: [a] ratcheting up further of the weapons stakes in a war that could lead to broader NATO-Russia actions and [b] health and environmental consequences beyond purely military," the US expert added.

Earlier on Monday, UK Minister of State for Defense Annabel Goldie said in her written response to an inquiry by Member of the House of Lords Raymond Jolliffe that British authorities will send shells to Ukraine that contain depleted uranium and that feature improved efficiency against armored vehicles.

The Russian Embassy in the United Kingdom warned London against supplying Kiev with such munitions. According to Russian diplomats, this step is fraught with risks of further escalation of the conflict. Radioactivity, high toxicity and carcinogenicity of such weapons are well-known, the embassy added.