UK to Send Armour Piercing Rounds with Depleted Uranium to Ukraine

Tuesday, 21 March 2023

The UK plans to hand over armour piercing round with depleted uranium and Challenger 2 tanks to Ukraine.

"Alongside our granting of a squadron of Challenger 2 main battle tanks to Ukraine, we will be providing ammunition including armour piercing rounds which contain depleted uranium," Annabel Goldie, Minister of State for Defence of United Kingdom, responded to the request of Lord Raymond Jolliffe, member of the House of Lords, on the website of the British parliament.

According to Goldi, such rounds are highly effective in defeating modern tanks and armoured vehicles.

Depleted uranium is uranium with a lower content of the fissile isotope-235 than natural uranium.

Due to its high density, depleted uranium is also used in military equipment armour (in particular, M1 Abrams tanks) and armour-piercing rounds. During the operation in Kosovo, NATO countries used shells with depleted uranium, because of which they were accused of increasing the incidence of leukemia.

According to British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, Challenger 2 tanks will be in Ukraine in March 2023 (Ukr).

As reported, Ukraine will receive twice as many Challenger 2 tanks (Ukr) from the UK than London originally promised.

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