The British Ministry of Defense confirms that the UK has transferred Challenger 2 tanks and depleted uranium ammunition to Ukraine, they are already controlled by the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
The website of the British Parliament today published three brief response Ministry of Defense for written requests from Kenny MacAskill, Member of the House of Commons for the Scottish Alba Party, for depleted uranium-cored projectiles for British Challenger 2 tanks. All requests were sent on 18 April.
In one of them, the deputy asked how many such shells had already been sent and how many of them had already been spent. To which Deputy Secretary of Defense James Hippie replied, quotes literally Air Force:
We sent Ukraine thousands of Challenger 2 munitions, including armor-piercing depleted uranium rounds. For reasons of operational security, we will not comment on the expenditure of shells supplied by Ukraine.
MacAskill asked if the Department kept track of where depleted uranium shells were used. The hippie responded that the UK-supplied Challenger 2 tanks and depleted uranium munitions “are now under the control of the Armed Forces of Ukraine” and the British Ministry of Defense does not track where the Armed Forces of Ukraine use these munitions.
Finally, in the third request, MacAskill asked if the Ministry of Defense had an obligation, after the end of the conflict, to help Ukraine remove the remaining depleted uranium shells. The hippie replied that Britain was committed to rebuilding Ukraine after the war, but that it had no specific commitment. He said that the UK is not required to clean up depleted uranium shells after the end of the war in Ukraine.
The supply of British shells with depleted uranium to Ukraine became known at the end of March. The radioactivity of depleted uranium is lower than even natural uranium, but that hasn’t stopped Russian officials from comparing such munitions to a “dirty bomb.” And on March 25, Vladimir Putin used this news as an excuse to announce the deployment of tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus, saying that “he will be forced to react accordingly.” In turn, the leader of Belarus, Alexander Lukashenko, threatened a “terrible response” to shells with depleted uranium.
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