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Russia criticizes the new US aid program to Ukraine which includes depleted uranium tank munitions, saying the decision to send these rounds “is a clear sign of inhumanity”.
The Russian Embassy in Washington said on Telegram on Wednesday that the United States was “deliberately transferring weapons with indiscriminate effects” and was fully aware of the potential health and safety consequences of such munitions.
The tank shells could help Ukrainian forces destroy Russian tanks and have already been supplied to Ukraine by Britain.
Pentagon spokesman Marine Corps Lt. Col. Garron Garn defended the use of such munitions in a statement to The Associated Press in March, saying the U.S. military “purchased, stockpiled and used depleted uranium cartridges for several decades because this is a long-standing problem”. part of some conventional munitions.
Garn said Russia is among the countries that have had DU cartridges for a long time.
The UN’s Office for Disarmament Affairs says that depleted uranium is the main by-product of uranium enrichment and that because of its high density it is used in munitions designed to penetrate shields.
The International Atomic Energy Agency said multiple assessments of areas where depleted uranium munitions have been used “indicated that the existence of dispersed depleted uranium residues in the environment does not present a radiological risk for the population of the affected regions”.
Some information in this report comes from The Associated Press, Agence France-Presse and Reuters.
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