The UK armed forces minister James Heappey said that the government has already started shipments of depleted uranium ammunition to Ukraine.

In response to questions from Scottish MP Kenny MacAskill, Heappey confirmed on Tuesday that DU munitions for the UK-made Challenger 2 tank had already arrived in Ukraine, though declined to comment on Kyiv’s “usage rates for the rounds provided, Russia Today reported.

“We have sent thousands of rounds of Challenger 2 ammunition to Ukraine, including depleted uranium armour-piercing rounds,” he said.

The weapons are now under the control of the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU) and the Defence Ministry “does not monitor the locations from where DU rounds are fired by the AFU in Ukraine,” he was quoted by RT as saying.

Russian President Vladimir Putin last month announced plans to station tactical nuclear weapons in neighbouring Belarus days after the British government said that it would provide Ukraine with armour-piercing rounds containing depleted uranium.

Responding to a question on whether the government has a responsibility to “help clear up depleted uranium rounds” used in Ukraine after the conflict, the minister stated it has “no obligation” to do so, instead stressing “Ukraine’s immediate needs.”

Moscow has repeatedly urged against foreign arms shipments to Kyiv, especially the British DU munitions, with the Foreign Ministry condemning London for “absolute recklessness, irresponsibility and impunity.”

Depleted uranium has a variety of applications because of its high density and its pyrophoric properties. Civilian uses for depleted uranium include counterweights in aircraft, forklifts and even sailboat keels. It is also used in medical radiotherapy as a radiation shield and until 1982 as dental porcelain crowns.

Militarily, depleted uranium is used in armour plates in heavy tanks and in armour-piercing ammunition. Defence experts state that it is used to harden rounds so that they can penetrate armour and steel. They say that when a weapon made with a depleted uranium tip or core strikes a solid object, like the side of a tank, it goes straight through it and then erupts in a burning cloud of vapour.

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