A British official has confirmed that the UK will be providing Ukraine with depleted uranium shells to be used with the British-made Challenger 2 tanks despite warnings from Russia that it would consider the use of the toxic ammunition the same as a dirty bomb.
“Alongside our granting of a squadron of Challenger 2 main battle tanks to Ukraine, we will be providing ammunition including armor piercing rounds which contain depleted uranium. Such rounds are highly effective in defeating modern tanks and armored vehicles,” said Annabel Goldie, the British deputy defense minister, in a written response to a question posted on the British Parliament’s website.
Depleted uranium is typically created as a byproduct of producing enriched uranium and is extremely dense. Because depleted uranium munitions are radioactive, they are linked to cancer and birth defects, especially in Iraq, where US forces used an enormous number of the controversial munitions during the Gulf War and the 2003 invasion. Birth defects are still common in the Iraqi city of Fallujah to this day, likely due to depleted uranium.
Responding to the news, Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu warned that sending Ukraine depleted uranium rounds brings the world closer to a “nuclear collision” between Russia and the West and warned Moscow would respond. “Naturally, Russia has something to answer this with,” he said.
Russian President Vladimir Putin also vowed a response. “If all this happens, Russia will have to respond accordingly, given that the West collectively is already beginning to use weapons with a nuclear component,” he said after a summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Moscow.
Western-provided depleted uranium rounds could already be in Ukraine’s hands as the US has refused to say if the Bradley Fighting Vehicles it has provided Ukraine are armed with the toxic ammunition. Bradleys can be equipped with depleted uranium, earning them the nickname “tank killers.”
“Birth defects are still common in the Iraqi city of Fallujah to this day, likely due to depleted uranium.”
Hear that ICC?
At the time of the battles in Fallujah (and to date), Iraq was not (and is not) an ICC jurisdiction state.
Still made my point.
i took your point and it was exactly what i was thinking
Yep.
Me too.
Well, the slaughtering them and exposing them to DU bombardment was Ok, since they weren’t signatories to the ICC.
” Iraq was not (and is not) an ICC jurisdiction state.”
But UK is. If ICC can indict Putin (Russia is non-ICC state) it can and should indict Sunak.
Thomas is probably more right as they were doubtless issued on orders form Washington a non signatory … rather “un-signatory”.
Ah, the old “I was just following orders”. Yep.
It should be Tony Blair. Not Sunak
Why not both?
So what! The use of d.u. is horrifying. In other news on Antiwar, 4 top Republicans have urged Biden to send cluster bombs to Ukraine. More horrifying news from the “house on the hill”.
I just got an email response back from them, “tell Wars we don’t care.” (Sarcasm alert)
“W,”Are you listening….?????
the ICC issued an arrest warrant for W & Cheney years ago, just like for Putin the other day.
but the US does not recognize ICC authority so W can continue to rest assured.
ICC?
The International Cricket Council?
š
I think we should all be concerned that this situation could further evolve toward an apocalypse. I do not say this lightly or even in jest.
Russia has already reported effects from chemical, biological and nuclear effects to its forces in the battlefield. If the UK is talking about potentially using depleted uranium munitions then they will already be on the battlefield.
My guess is that they have been caught with their pants down and this is the needed cover. Still no word from the Hague arresting these supreme international criminals?
No these shells are for the Challenger II tank – they do not work in neither standard NATO equipment nor in Ukrainian (old Soviet equipment) – because the shells for the Challenger II are for a rifled 120 mm gun – these will be useless in the standard smooth bored NATO guns. And the Challenger II has not yet been deployed in Ukraine – they will be so only by late March.
The use of depleted uranium in armor-piercing shells was first started by Nazi Germany.
Today, the armour piercing rounds which contain depleted uranium are used with the US-made Abrams tanks, as well as German Leopard 2 and British Challenger 2 tanks.
No credible source I have ever come across makes this claim – however they may have produced solid core ammunition with non depleted uranium – at least Speer writes in his book that he released the uranium (non depleted) for producing such ammunition in the summer of 1943.
So not depleted uranium but the more dangerous non depleted stuff – so you are wrong, but only in the sense that the Nazi program was worse – there is however very scant evidence from the actual use of such ammunition (there only being about 1200 tons of uranium to start with may have something to do with that.
https://soc.history.war.world-war-ii.narkive.com/X1QpYsDv/uranium-anti-tank-ammunition-in-wwii
Not to forget by the Russian T-80BVM (as documented by Tass) https://tass.com/defense/1036958
https://www.icbuw.eu/depleted-uranium-weapons-state-of-affairs-2022/
But we are here speaking specifically about UK supplying shells for the Challenger II – those shells will not work in other NATO tanks as they require rifled barrels – which the Challenger II is the only ‘NATO’ tank shipped that has.
I very much appreciate your remarks DS and I have no information pertaining to your question.
don’t forget the attack mosquitos
Right, Washington is methodically taking down all the inhibitions of decency and humanity. Gen. Sherman is the idol of American war fighting.
Wars always get steadily more horrific as they progress.
Sadly true. The difference is, Washington begins that way, cf. “shock & awe” in Baghdad.
How about LeMay?
Burning of Tokyo, perfect example of the Sherman style.
DONNA: I am.very concerned and scared shirtless when I think of the stupidity of our.fearless leader and Moron in charge.
Yes, that’s the thing. All this argument about the granular details of depleted uranium is a distraction from the main point, which is that the US keeps escalating the war another step. Each step may be small or big. But either way, it’s another step toward thermonuclear annihilation.
And before someone replies that most of humanity will survive just fine, please note that the journal Nature Food published this article last Fall:
“Global food insecurity and famine from reduced
crop, marine fishery and livestock production
due to climate disruption from nuclear war
soot injection”
Which includes this table:
https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/b2a20d6f43fa58e71b9ea152c76abaeb2192d1db572e85a91fc0d1f320dbd0ad.png
Take-home message: after a US-Russia nuclear war, at least 67% of humanity will be dead within 2 years. And with the accompanying social chaos and general disruption, I would not bet my house on the survival odds of the remainder. It might be an Easter Island scenario.
Very far from an established fact – some of the birth defects likely stem from the usage of depleted uranium shells, but there are other very well known culprits that the US left as a gift for the Iraqis:
https://www.theinteldrop.org/2023/03/21/birth-defects-and-the-toxic-legacy-of-war-in-iraq/#:~:text=The%20Falluja%20Hospital%E2%80%99s%20birth%20defects%20Facebook%20page%2C%20where,short%20limbs%20and%20malformed%20ears%2C%20noses%20and%20spines.
According to John Yuh’s famous torture memo the Geneva Convention on the laws of war is a quaint, outdated historical artifact. Washington pays them no more respect than it does International Law generally.
You might want to read Tass on the issue – Russian tanks also already use depleted uranium shells.
https://tass.com/defense/1036958
https://www.icbuw.eu/depleted-uranium-weapons-state-of-affairs-2022/
The referred articles say the Russians “have” them. Putin is promising to use them only in response to the Nazis initiating their use.
I know – they would very likely bring up theirs if they have to fight Challenger II tanks.
I do not think radioactivity is problem. Just like Pu it becomes an issue of heavy metal poisoning produced from dust.
The dust is heavier than other particles of a similar size – hence they will be washed down into the ground by rain – a thing which is not happening much in Iraq as there is not much rainfall – hence it will not be a big issue in Ukraine – if this was not the case we would not be able to eat crops from large parts of Europe as the dust from the Chernobyl accident was spread pretty far about.
I’m smoking a joint, whilst I contemplate NUCLEAR MADNESS.
If you’re smoking good stuff the nuclear madness stuff should be gone by the time you’re done. Then it’s on to important things like your bellybutton.
Manās inhumanity to man š
Seems pointless. A regular (non-DU) KE antitank round from a 120 mm gun (rifled or smoothbore) will easily kill any of the T64-T72-T80-T90 tanks used by Russia. The Germans don’t even bother with DU rounds, confident that their AT ammunition from the 120mm L55 gun will defeat any tank on the battlefield.
So, any of the 13 challengers that actually make it to the battlefield before breaking down, being destroyed in transit, or left stranded on the wrong side of a river due to a blown up bridge will be able to kill a Russian tank even “deader” than they would have killed it without the DU munitions. Outside of the PR value, it hardly seems worth the trouble.
Regardless if these rounds are sent or not, this is nuclear provocation.
Kremlin simply have no choice but to use nuclear weapons against
England. If they don’t, people will rebel.
I hope they use small yield nukes on London first to sober up these rats.
Oh they certainly have a choice otherwise why have leaders? Nuking the UK would be a stupid move. They would nuke you right back.
That’s a possibility but isn’t a fact. I’m willing to take that risk as long as you and Micheal are dead or at least your lands are poisoned like you did with Japan, Yugoslavia and Iraq.
Londonās a good place to start, Ivan.
Then DC.
Then Noo Yawk.
Wipe out these three and perhaps we can begin the reset.
That is some crazy shit.
Yeah, unfortunately.
Maybe they are running out of the regular shells.
This is insanity. Ukraine has ine of the richest soils in the world. And to poison it? To poison undergrond water?
It seems to me that these criminals do not care about Ukrainian lives, and ccancers for future generations. What is really going on? A chance to exterminate Slavic population, Ukrainian, Russian ā and perhaps Polsh in tge ling run? If Zelenski accepts ot ā his people need to him for war crimes.
This is not how depleted uranium (DU) ‘works’ – it will only be the dust particles that poses any danger as they can be ingested or inhaled – these particles are heavier than other particles of a similar size – they will thus fairly fast be washed down the soil in Ukraine where the rainfall is orders of magnitude larger than in e.g. Iraq.
If washed down to the groundwater – these particles will not return to the surface even when ground water is being pumped up – the flow needed to make these particles rise in the water column is not achieved when pumping groundwater.
Finally DU is significantly less radioactive than naturally uranium – which is also found in Ukraine – so really this is an issue that will not be of much worry beyond the first couple of significant rainfall.
Oh yes and the Russians are also using DU shells in their T-80BVM as has been documented in TASS already back in December 2018 – and that while explaining that it is not against any treaties: https://tass.com/defense/1036958
https://www.icbuw.eu/depleted-uranium-weapons-state-of-affairs-2022/
Well then , will you volunteer Denmark in order that we can ascertain the effect of DU?
We have an experiment in Kosovo – I have referenced you a source on this elsewhere today.
Tell that to the Iraqis.
Tell that to the people in Kosovo where the same dismissals you repeat say one thing but the leukemia rates say another.
https://www.dw.com/en/uranium-risks-haunt-kosovo-survivors/a-16366645
Says one who is constantly supporting the Russian invasion of Ukraine and defending all destruction, contamination of the land, explosives left behind that will last years to clear and the accusations of war crimes against the Kremlin. You are the insane one here. Pfff.
And Thanks for admitting that Ukraine has one of the richest soils in the world. It is the reason why your boy Putin is sacrificing his thousands and thousands of cannon fodders for.
I wonder how the Challenger 2 tank will do against shoulder fired weapons and SU-25 aircraft.
We will see it is a well protected tank. If the Ukrainians are less dumb than the Russians they will protect those tanks with an infantry screen to make sure no hostile troops are near them. They will also move with anti air missiles we believe the Su-25 is vulnerable to Stingers and Iglas which the Ukrainians will have. Then you are trading a 10 million dollar aircraft against a 5 million dollar tank.
Not sure how you got a down vote for this but anyways, accurate comment.
I don’t have the expertise to talk about anti-tank weaponry. But I know that the reason Ukraine wants more tanks is that Russia has already destroyed most of the tanks they already had.
Well yeah they were stuck with Soviet era hardware of course they want more and better tanks, I will bet you they want more and better of pretty much any bit of military hardware you could care to name.
The Russians are not fielding shoulder fired anti tank weapons capable of taking out a Challenger II – they have tripod fired types (like the Kornet) but no shoulder fired ones – they have a few concurred from the Ukrainians but that is it AFAIK.
My bad. But it doesn’t change my point.
Your point was:
So this removes just about half of it – the point being that shoulder fired weapons can be and often are ubiquitous – tripod mounted ones are much less flexible – basically relying upon the victim moving within range of a prepared ambush site – so much more effective in the periods where tanks are road bound. That said a Challenger will not in general cope with a Kornet strike.
As for the SU-25 part the issue is that owing to the ever present shoulder fired AA missiles using SU-25 is a very likely suicide mission – if this was not the case then the Russians would have dominated the battlefields completely.
Jesus, what an insane move. So this is how human extinction is gonna start…by poisoning the Earth.
This is a huge red line! Kremlin must respond with force. It is time to end the anglosaxon threat.
People have wanted this for a long time. The question is how.
WE have wanted this since the end of WWII. Led by General Patton, a cabal of American military officers wanted to attack the Soviet Union while it was weak (said General Patton, lover of wars – “I love it so”. After the Soviet Union losing more than 20 million souls defeating the NAZIs! WE came out of the war with no infrastructure damage, clean as a whistle. Oh yes, we have wanted this.
Agree Ivan.
āWe are RUSSIA and just TRY and further test us!ā
Makes me very happy to be primarily Mediterranean and Gallic rather than Anglo. Fuck āem.
The best response to the British supplies of depleted uranium shells, is to destroy the supply convoys in Ukraine. Russia can’t win unless it disrupts the limitless supplies of weapons from the West.
“Russia can’t win unless it disrupts the limitless supplies of weapons from the West.”
And so far it has been unable disrupt the limitless supplies of weapons from the west. And short of going nuclear, which creates its own problems, isn’t likely to become able to.
The Russian military may be weak and inept, but that doesn’t mean that Ukraine will be able to gain any advantage. Ukraine will become just another broken U.S. proxy state.
Not at all. The English will simply send more and drag more of their vassal states into the conflict. The only way to win is to destroy the Anglo-American empire. Kremlin must confront London and Washington directly. These parasites only understand the language of brute force.
Russian threats of nuclear weapons are counterproductive because they just show frustration with their poor performance in the conventional war. Russia would achieve more by threatening maritime commerce. Especially now that the U.S. blew up the NordStream pipelines. Even the mere talk of targeting maritime commerce would increase insurance rates, which would further squeeze Europe.
Not at all. Russian army is doing great against Anglo-Americans. They completely destroyed the strongest garrison of North American Terrorist Occupation troops in Europe and very effectively continue to kill any new forces. This conflict also prove the inferiority of Anglo-American equipment to Russian weapons of war. Most of independent military experts already knew that but it’s nice to have evidence.
As for responding to English nuclear threat, yeah, tit-for-tat approach isn’t constructive. They should be killing top English and American politicians all over the Eurasia and attacking Anglo-American forces in NAT-Occupied countries. The response to escalation need to be directed strictly at the Anglo-American parasites and their spawns, not normal people. I don’t see attacking trade routes as a good idea. Kremlin could target Anglo-American economic interests with direct sabotage of military and economic infrastructures in US and England but simply killing top oligarchs and their puppets in governments is much easier (and cheaper)
Perhaps NOW is the time Russia will break out the low yield “tacts” that are probably more effective against well hardened redoubts with the aforementioned tanks and other assets using depleted U munitions, their armories, and trains transporting them.
The Kremlin (if not Putin) understands the catastrophic consequences that would follow for the Russian army if Putin used tactical nukes in Ukraine. It is too bad some of Putin’s Pundits commenting on this site take infantile glee in the prospect of nuclear war as if you were playing VR games. Grow up.
Write to the White House if you want to save lives. Otherwise, I assume you’re ok with wasting lives in trade for territory.
Ukrainians have the right to resist a foreign invasion. If you want peace ask Putin to withdraw Russian troops from Ukraine.
Ukrainians had NO right to bomb the eastern portion of their country consisting of the ethnic Russians who had already been living there during the breakup of the Soviet Union! The Ukrainians had been doing that in violation of the Minsk agreement and before!
Don’t know the man. Suggest something less stupid.
And stop pretending that all historical events have no precedents. It really annoys me that anyone here could be so stupid.
Yes, there are lots of precedents for Russian imperial aggression in Ukraine. Vietnam, Afghanistan, Iraq, Algeria, Angola, Mozambique, Guinea-Bisseau. Palestine, Lebanon Since WWII imperial wars of aggression, conquest and occupation tend to end badly for the aggressor. Palestine is still a work in progress. Too bad you don’t know Putin. He could use some good advice. Seems like his cronies in the Kremlin are too cowed to tell him his war is a lost cause.
This war is a long time in the making since Nuland admittedly used 5 billion NED dollars to buy the confrontation that allowed HER to name then next president to replace the one she and the Obama administration deposed. This created in the mind of Neocons war, financed by U.S. TAXPAYERS and run by the U.S. & NATO militaries will proceed in all ways as the waring parties deem best for themselves. Tit for tat and escalation for escalation. Each and every new move invites a new and a greater of lesser response. I BELIEVE it’s proportionate. Anyone that follows these issues knows Russia has the ability to level all their cities in one day. Using smart tacts is not even 1% of what Russia could unleash on them & ilustrates where more carless escalation will lead!!!
Cute name. Tactical nukes. Makes them sound so usable.
“The smallest tactical nuclear weapons can be one kiloton or less (producing the equivalent to a thousand tonnes of the explosive TNT). The largest ones can be as big as 100 kilotons.”
“Deployed tactical weapons in Europe can have explosive yields up to 300 kilotons, or 20 times that of the bomb that destroyed Hiroshima.”
The Russians have 200 Megaton bombs, 4000 times the blast of the Hiroshima bomb & have the blast of 200 million tons of TNT… That’s 200,000,000 tons vs 300,000 tons. Not even close…!!!!!!
Right. And I wouldn’t want Russia to use those either. I don’t get your point. I posted the kilotons to show that “tactical nukes” can be up to 20 times the strength of the bombs we dropped on Hiroshima. They shouldn’t even be talked about being used.
Russia has no need to use nukes of any kind, even if the UK does supply those shells to Ukraine and they are used on the battlefield. And they’re not going to. There are plenty of other ways Russia has to exact retribution against both Ukraine and the UK.
What’s not to like? They’re small and cute. (Sarcasm alert)
Britain a state sponsor of TERRORISM .
Its not the first or last time.
Exactly. They even birthed Churchill, who wanted WWIII after he had dragged the world through WWI and WWII. The only credit I can give them is they had enough sense to vote him out of office once WWII was over. (Sarcasm alert)
“In the course of preparing myself…I realized afresh that I hate Churchill and all of his kind. I hate them virulently. They have stalked down the corridors of endless power all through history…. What man of sanity would say on hearing of the atrocities committed by the Japanese against British and Anzac prisoners of war, ‘We shall wipe them out, everyone of them, men, women, and children. There shall not be a Japanese left on the face of the earth? Such simple–minded cravings for revenge leave me with a horrified but reluctant awe for such single–minded and merciless ferocity.”–ā
ā Richard Burton
. Because depleted uranium munitions are radioactive, they are linked to cancer and birth defects, especially in Iraq, where US forces used an enormous number of the controversial munitions during the Gulf War and the 2003 invasion. Birth defects are still common in the Iraqi city of Fallujah to this day, likely due to depleted uranium
Getting closer to the ‘big one’. With the U.S., U.K. and Israel pushing war to the bitter end, how long before we have indeed crossed the Rubicon.
Bill, we need to beat them to the crossing and launch an all-out revolution before ByeDone destroys whatās left of our beautiful planet.
And be ready to die doing so.
Iām in.
I have never seen an administration so intent on destroying their very own country and the world along with it.
Time to get your finger close to that button, Uncle Vlad.
When I first heard on this website about the Useless Kingdom sending depleted uranium, I thought , This must be some mistake. Apparently not.
But what would one expect from a nation who murdered, starved and tortured the inhabitants of Ireland for centuries?
The Useless Kingdom rivals only the United Snakes for spreading colonization, death, destruction and disease around the world. āGreatā Britain my ass.
As Aircrew we should be aware of the concept of ALARA āas low as reasonably achievableā. We are considered radiation workers by the US government. Our benefit for long-term low-level exposure is your pay. However, this is a different topic from my post here.
“UK to Give Ukraine Depleted Uranium Shells Despite Russian Warnings – Russia’s defense minister says the move brings the world closer to a ‘nuclear collision,’ Putin vows to respond”
My personal feelings are that the second most evil people on earth, after Ukrainians, are the British who are grasping at any action to remain relevant after their loss of empire and status in the world.
Depleted Uranium shells could poison the land of Eastern Ukraine for many years. This in itself should be a war
crime.
So, the Nuclear Energy Industry has a standard which goes by the acronym ALARA. Depleted Uranium Shells violate the basic concepts of radiation avoidance and protection which are the bed rock of mitigating diseases caused
by long-term low-level exposure to radiation sources.
ALARA stands for āas low as reasonably achievableā. ALARA means avoiding exposure to radiation that does not have a direct benefit to you, even if the dose is small. To do this, you can use three basic protective measures
in radiation safety: time, distance, and shielding.
Recommended dose levels have steadily been lowered since 1945. Levels of exposure once thought acceptable are now known to have detrimental problems from cancer to organ failure.
“DU is about 60% as radioactive as natural uranium. Most of the alpha radiation comes from 238 U and 234 U whereas beta radiation comes from 234 Th and 234 Pa
that are formed within a few weeks.”
“The use of DU in munitions is controversial because of concerns about potential long-term health effects.[7][8] Normal functioning of the kidney, brain, liver, heart, and numerous other systems can be affected by exposure to uranium, a toxic metal.[9]”
“The aerosol or spallation frangible powder produced by impact and combustion of depleted uranium munitions can potentially contaminate wide areas around the impact sites, leading to possible inhalation by human beings.[11]”
“The actual level of acute and chronic toxicity of DU is also
controversial. Several studies using cultured cells and laboratory rodents suggest the possibility of leukemogenic, genetic, reproductive, and neurological effects from chronic exposure.[7]”
“According to an article in Al Jazeera, DU from American artillery is suspected to be one of the major causes of an increase in the general mortality rate in Iraq since 1991.[12]”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Depleted_uranium
Ohhh…NATO is just getting dumber and dumber.
I know. Hard to believe it’s possible, right?
Puppets don’t need intelligence.
Inching closer to that great fall. You canāt stop them but the slow movement is just agonizingly painful to watch.
Time to walk the walk …