Russia blasts ‘inhumanity’ of US sending depleted uranium shells to Ukraine

Russia has denounced Washington’s plan to provide the Ukrainian military with ammunition containing depleted uranium as part of a new $1bn assistance package to Kyiv, describing the decision to provide the controversial arms as inhuman.

The Pentagon said on Wednesday that depleted uranium ammunition for US-made Abrams tanks would be part of a new military package worth up to $175m, out of more than $1bn in civilian and defence support that US Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced in the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv.

 "The US Administration's decision to send depleted uranium rounds to Kiev is a clear sign of inhumanity. Obviously, Washington, obsessed with the idea of inflicting a ‘strategic defeat’ on Russia, is ready to fight not only to the last Ukrainian but to put a cross on the future generations," the embassy wrote on its Telegram channel. 

"The US is deliberately transferring weapons with indiscriminate effects. It is fully aware of the consequences: explosions of such munitions result in the formation of a moving radioactive cloud. Small particles of uranium settle in the respiratory tract, lungs, esophagus, accumulate in kidneys and liver, cause cancer and lead to the inhibition of the whole organism’s functions. It’s right enough to take a look at the "uranium footprint" of the Americans in Iraq and the Balkans, where thousands of civilians suffered from oncology."

"By supplying the Ukrainian authorities with these shells, the United States is engaging in self-deception, refusing to accept the failure of the so-called counter-offensive of the Ukrainian armed forces. The course of the special military operation will not change: the Russian Army will continue to methodically grind the weaponry sent to the Zelensky regime," it stressed. 

"The US Administration, in turn, reveals its true colors: it is deeply indifferent to both the present of Ukraine and the future of the republic and its European neighbors."