Updated 01:01 | Published 00:55
US sends depleted uranium ammunition to Ukraine.
It is extremely heavy and is to be used in American tanks on the battlefield.
The Biden government is now getting ready for how Putin will respond to the announcement, writes Politico.
The US has previously announced that 31 Abrams M1 tanks are being sent to Ukraine. The first ten are supposed to be used in the counteroffensive within a few weeks.
On Wednesday evening came the official announcement that they should also be armed with a controversial type of projectiles made from depleted uranium. The ammunition type is included in the latest support package from the Pentagon, worth almost two billion Swedish kronor.
The projectile is extremely heavy with a density DensityVolume mass, a measure of the density of a substance. almost double that of lead. They make it easier to penetrate the armor of enemy tanks.
– It is so heavy and has so much energy that it just continues through the armor ring and it gets so hot that it spontaneously ignites, said Edward Geist, an expert at the American think tank Rand. to AP earlier this year.
Does not count as a nuclear weapon
Depleted uranium is a by-product of enrichment, but is not classified as a nuclear weapon.
– It is an element and a heavy metal. The radioactivity is not dangerous at all, says Christian Ekberg, professor of nuclear chemistry at Chalmers in Gothenburg, told SVT.
The ammunition has previously been used by American forces in, among other places, Iraq and the former Yugoslavia. Even Russia has it in its warehouses.
The UN’s atomic energy agency, the IAEA, has determined that the projectiles “do not pose a radiation risk to the population in the affected areas”, writes Reuters. At the same time, the IAEA has called for caution and protective gloves when handling the ammunition.
“A public information campaign may therefore be required to ensure that people refrain from touching the projectiles,” states the UN agency according to AP.
Warns of cancer
The organization International coalition to ban uranium weapons warns that depleted uranium can cause cancer if someone touches the ammunition or inhales the dust that forms where it has been used. Swedish researchers have previously sounded the alarm about an increased risk of malformations in fetuses in vulnerable areas in Iraq.
In March, Britain decided that its Challenger tanks in Ukraine will be armed with depleted uranium ammunition.
Then Putin said, according to Sky Newsthat Russia would be forced to “respond proportionately” and claimed that the West “has already started using weapons with a nuclear component”.
Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu went even further in his statements:
– Another step has been taken and there are fewer and fewer left before a potential nuclear collision between Russia and the West.
Details: “Ready for Propaganda”
The Pentagon reportedly expects similar reactions now. An authority source tells Politico that the Biden government is getting ready for “a new round of Russian propaganda that the projectiles are not safe”.
– What is really happening is that Russia simply does not want Ukraine to get tanks and more effective ammunition that can be lethal against Russian tanks. If Russia has any problems with that, they can withdraw their tanks from Ukraine, the informant told the newspaper.