Ukraine depleted uranium weapons: Help can be a double-edged sword when it’s taken for granted far too long. Western assistance to Ukraine is now becoming a double-edged sword that will soon usher in the cancer epidemic.
The most recent announcement made by the UK government has worried and alarmed world leaders. According to a media report by Al Jazeera, the British government has declared it will give Ukraine armor-piercing rounds that contain depleted uranium weapons, a byproduct of the uranium-enrichment process that is required to make nuclear weapons. For the unaware, depleted Uranium weapons is a heavy metal that is used in weapons because it can penetrate tanks and armor more easily due to its density, amongst other properties. And so, Britain believes that delivering depleted Uranium weapons to Ukraine will be beneficial.
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The depleted uranium is the waste product of enriching natural uranium for use as reactor fuel or making weapons. In its solid state, it has a low level of radioactivity. It is used to harden rounds so they can pierce armor and steel, but it is a very heavy substance that is 1.7 times denser than lead. An explosive burning cloud of vapor is released when a weapon made with a depleted uranium tip or core strikes a solid object, such as the side of a tank. The vapor condenses into dust, which is toxic and radioactive.
According to Edward Geist, a nuclear expert with the research firm RAND, the rounds still have some radioactive characteristics that are unable to cause a nuclear reaction like a nuclear weapon would. And so, providing these weapons to Ukraine is not lethal. However, a large part of the thesis is being undermined.
A terrible decision!
Everyone feels a little uneasy whenever depleted uranium weapons are mentioned on a battlefield. Not because it entails a nuclear explosion, but rather a painful and slow demise. It is now prevalent in the post-war environments of countries and is used extensively in military equipment. Radiation poisoning and an increased risk of developing cancer are among the short-term effects of depleted uranium exposure.
Although studies have linked exposure to depleted uranium, to a higher risk of birth defects, genetic mutations, and other health problems, long-term effects are still largely unknown. Concerningly, depleted uranium has negative environmental effects. This substance can linger in the environment for tens of thousands of years, contaminating soil and water. There is a higher chance of environmental contamination and the ensuing health risks to the local population in areas where depleted uranium weapons have been used. Depleted uranium poses a serious threat to the environment and human health, and it needs to be eliminated from post-conflict countries.
Nations impacted by this substance have frequently taken action to lower their exposure, such as restricting access to contaminated areas, conducting health screenings on populations at risk, and providing treatment for those who have been harmed. Western allies have often used depleted Uranium in the past. And by all honestly, the after-effects have not been kind.
For instance, the use of depleted Uranium in the Yugoslavia war. NATO used 10 metric tons of depleted uranium filled in missiles and artilleries during its 1999 air campaign against Yugoslavia, the bloc admitted in a report a year afterwards. Although the report stated that depleted uranium posed “practically no danger” when ingested or absorbed through wounds, evidence from Serbia suggests otherwise.
Till today, Balkan countries and Poland rank highest in lung cancer risk for ages 50 to 69, attributable to air pollution. Whereas, 5,500 out of every 100,000 Serbs suffer from some kind of carcinoma, a rate nearly three times the global average. All because of depleted Uranium. A surge in leukemia and lymphoma cases was already seen after the bombing campaign, and have since recorded increases in oncological diseases, pathological pregnancies, autoimmune diseases, mental disorders in children, and infertility in men.
In one of his most recent statements, Serbian Health Minister Danica Grujicic emphasized that “Radiation still exists at that moment when the explosion occurred, [and] after that, the nanoparticles do the work.” One can anticipate that one alpha particle, which is 50 times more carcinogenic than any other, will emerge from one atom of depleted uranium in your body at any time and transform a healthy cell into a cancerous one after the nanoparticles enter the lungs, digestive tract, and kidneys.
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A Nuclear escalation?
Depleted Uranium is not at all good news for Ukrainian fighters and even for the Russian military. In fact, the Russian military has already stressed they see it as nuclear escalation. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said sending depleted uranium ammunition to Ukraine would mean the UK was “ready to violate international humanitarian law as in 1999 in Yugoslavia”. “There is no doubt this will end badly for London,” Typical Russia style warning.
However, the UK is simply stressing that all warnings of nuclear warnings are ‘Russian propaganda’. Whereas, the US is fanning the flames stressing, depleted Uranium “is not radioactive” and “not anywhere close to going into” the sphere of nuclear weaponry, White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said. “This is a commonplace type of munition … If Russia is particularly concerned about the welfare of their tanks and their tank soldiers … they could just take them across the border back into Russia,” he said. It was only the US that started the usage of depleted Uranium. In the 1970s, the US Army began making armor-piercing rounds with depleted uranium and has since added it to composite tank armour to strengthen it.
It has also added depleted uranium to the munitions fired by the air force’s A-10 close air support attack plane, known as “the tank killer”. However, they can’t deny the facts that are mentioned above. The horrors of the after effects of the Yugoslavian war are still apparent. There should be no doubt that the West is crossing the limit, in its mad push to defeat Russia at any cost.
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West and Zelensky won’t care at all even if it means killing remaining Ukrainians or even Russians. Families are about to suffer, and many homes are about to be destroyed in the coming decades. Dear God, please help Western leaders come to their senses.
