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The White House is going to approve the provision of depleted uranium tank shells to Ukraine, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing American officials. It is reportedly expected that Biden’s administration will provide Ukraine with depleted uranium shells “after weeks of internal discussions on how to equip the Abrams tanks that the United States gives to Kiev.”
According to one of the cited US officials, Washington faces no great obstacles to approving the shipment of depleted uranium shells to the Kiev regime. However, some officials in the White House have expressed concern that such a decision would expose Washington to criticism, as the DU shells pose danger to human health and the environment.
Washington is likely to follow the example of London which decided to transfer DU shells to the war-torn country along with its Challenger tanks. As a result, the UK faced a wave of criticism, which however did not stop the bellicose Moscow, unlike Russian missiles. In May 14, the DU shells supplied from the UK were likely destroyed by Russian missile strike in the city of Khmelnitsky. LINK, LINK
Explosion in Khmelnitsky
After London’s gamble failed, now its Washington’s turn to pay for the new batch of DU shells. American troops already used depleted uranium ammunition during Operation Desert Storm in 1991, during the bombing of Yugoslavia in 1999 and after the invasion of Iraq in 2003.
Russian President Vlasimir Putin had previously commented on the decision of NATO member-states to escalate the conflict, claiming that the West decided to fight Russia to the last Ukrainian, not in words, but in deeds. As Foreign Minister noted, if Britain transfers depleted uranium shells to Kiev, it will end badly for London. As a result, the radioactive cloud from Khmelnitsky moved to Europe.
London’s dangerous supplies to Kiev provoked Moscow to accelerate deployment of its tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus. Washington’s decision to replace British shells will also lead to another wave of escalation.
