Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov on Thursday called the shipment of uranium munitions to Ukraine a “criminal” act, but Russia’s anger over the issue has more to do with the characteristics of the munitions than any radioactive danger.

On Wednesday, the Pentagon announced a new $1 billion aid package to Kiev, including depleted uranium armor-piercing munitions to be used by Abrams tanks due to arrive in Ukraine.

“This is not just a step towards escalation, but a reflection of Washington’s outrageous disregard for the environmental consequences of using this type of ammunition in a conflict zone. This is actually a criminal act. I can’t give another assessment,” thundered Ryabkov, quoted by rosZMI.

He also reiterated Russia’s previous warnings that supplying Ukraine with such munitions posed a risk of nuclear war in order to put “pressure” on Moscow.

“Now we have this dangerous balancing act on the brink of direct conflict between nuclear powers,” he added, referring to Moscow’s equally violent response when Britain announced that the Challenger 2 tanks it was going to send to Ukraine would be equipped with such munitions.

This was said by President Vladimir Putin himself, who in March said that Russia would be “forced to react” if London sent such ammunition to Kyiv, and also accused the West of placing weapons with a “nuclear component” in Ukraine.

Concerns about depleted uranium projectiles

It should be noted that the use of depleted uranium munitions is hotly debated and has its opponents, including the International Coalition to Ban Uranium Weapons, which claims there are high health risks from ingesting or inhaling depleted uranium dust, including the risk of cancer and congenital malformations.

But during the enrichment process, fissile uranium isotopes are concentrated into a useful product, and the waste loses most of its radioactivity. For this reason, depleted uranium poses no potential danger to the public, as it is 3 million times less radioactive than the radium used in the past in watch dials and 10 million times less radioactive than fire alarms.

In other words, the concern over the use of this type of munition is more about its toxicity than any radioactive component, as Moscow appears to be trying to mislead public opinion in the West by associating the weapon with the dangers of “nuclear weapons.” war”.

Depleted uranium, a byproduct of uranium enrichment, is used in munitions because its extreme density gives projectiles the ability to easily penetrate armor and ignite spontaneously.

“The British military has used depleted uranium in its armor-piercing projectiles for decades,” the British Ministry of Defense said in March, rejecting Moscow’s accusations at the time.

“Russia knows this, but is deliberately trying to misinform. “Independent research by scientists from groups such as the Royal Society has assessed that any impact on personal health and the environment from the use of depleted uranium munitions is likely to be negligible,” the British Ministry of Defense emphasized.

The United States, in turn, used depleted uranium munitions in huge quantities during the 1990 and 2003 Gulf wars and during the 1999 NATO bombing of the former Yugoslavia.

Moreover, in late 2018, the Kremlin itself said it would equip some tanks with depleted uranium shells, and at the time the state-run TASS agency was keen to emphasize that these shells did not violate any international treaty.

The Russian Ministry of Defense said at the time that the T-80BV tank had been upgraded to fire depleted uranium projectiles and that the Svynet-2 projectiles could penetrate 800-830 mm of armor at a distance of two kilometers.

How do these munitions work, which angered Russia

Depleted uranium began to be used by the US military decades ago to produce armor, shells and ammunition. This material is particularly useful for projectiles used by tanks, as it “sharpens” when it hits the armor of an enemy vehicle, allowing it to more easily penetrate the combat vehicle.

Projectiles made of other materials do not have this enhanced ability, and their effectiveness depends on a number of factors, such as the thickness of the armor, the speed of the projectile, the angle at which it hits the combat vehicle, etc.

In addition, depleted uranium is also pyrophoric, meaning that projectiles made from it heat up when they penetrate enemy vehicles, and the dust and small fragments thrown up on impact can start fires.

In other words, these projectiles pose a greater danger to tanks than a simple explosion, which in turn can throw shrapnel inside the fighting vehicles. The damage that depleted uranium rounds can do inside a tank is significant, especially if they ignite the munitions on board.

Numerous videos that have emerged over the last 19 months since the start of the war in Ukraine have shown that Russian tanks have huge problems with this due to a design flaw that caused the combat vehicle’s ammunition to be placed under the turret.

This means that when a Russian tank is hit from above (but not only), the projectile that penetrates it passes through the tower and enters the ammunition, causing a catastrophic detonation of the on-board ammunition and the instant death of the crew.

What the new depleted uranium munitions bring is an increase in the percentage of Russian combat vehicles that will fall victim to such incidents, as their higher penetration rate means that they will be able to destroy Russian tanks even with “normal” hits, without necessarily hitting the vehicles from above.

And this, most likely, will become a big problem for the newest Russian tanks, including those with dynamic armor for better protection.

Follow the latest events of the 561st day of the war in Ukraine LIVETEXT on HOTNEWS.RO.