DISINFO: The West wants to turn Ukraine into a radioactive graveyard

DISINFORMATION CASE DETAILS

AI translations:

DISINFO: The West wants to turn Ukraine into a radioactive graveyard

SUMMARY

The UK, along with other Western countries, is escalating the "proxy war" in Ukraine, which they themselves unleashed. The West has assigned Ukraine the role of not only an anti-Russian military testing ground, but also a radioactive graveyard. The UK Ministry of Defence announced that deliveries of Challenger 2 tank ammunition to Ukraine include depleted uranium shells and their use by the Kyiv regime won’t be monitored.

RESPONSE

Pro-Kremlin disinformation fearmongering about nuclear weapons. Russia uses this alleged high environmental risk to saber-rattle with its nuclear arsenal.

The depleted uranium shells the UK Ministry of Defence (MoD) is sending to Ukraine are not prohibited by any international agreement.

"They are not meant to poison people. They are used because of their capability to pierce armour," says Dr Marina Miron from Kings College London. See also this article from the BBC in which a former British Army tank commander and chemical weapons expert Col Hamish de Breton-Gordon states that "depleted uranium rounds used by Challenger 2 tanks contained only trace elements of depleted uranium. He added it was "laughable" to suggest depleted uranium rounds were in any way linked to nuclear weapons, which uses enriched uranium".

Furthermore, on 21 March 2023, the UK MoD already answered Russian claims about the deployment of depleted uranium shells to Ukraine and the interpretation of such kind of ammunition as a “nuclear weapon”. “It is a standard component and has nothing to do with nuclear weapons or capabilities. Russia knows this, but is deliberately trying to disinform”, explained a spokesperson for the UK MoD.

In 2007, the UN General Assembly launched a study to find out the health effects of depleted uranium weapons. The United Nations Scientific Committee on the Effects of Atomic Radiation (UNSCEAR) found no significant poisoning was caused by exposure to depleted Uranium. Depleted uranium has a higher density than ordinary steel. It's about 2,5 times denser that steel and about 1,5 times denser than lead. This allows a tank shell to gain more momentum and penetrate armour more effectively.

Related cases: Depleted uranium rounds are 'dirty' nuclear bombsUK delivery of depleted uranium tank shells will lead to a nuclear catastrophe, UK will supply Ukraine with taboo genocidal weapons.

Disclaimer

Cases in the EUvsDisinfo database focus on messages in the international information space that are identified as providing a partial, distorted, or false depiction of reality and spread key pro-Kremlin messages. This does not necessarily imply, however, that a given outlet is linked to the Kremlin or editorially pro-Kremlin, or that it has intentionally sought to disinform. EUvsDisinfo publications do not represent an official EU position, as the information and opinions expressed are based on media reporting and analysis of the East Stratcom Task Force.

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