“Russia will be forced to respond”

Russian President Vladimir Putin threatened on Tuesday to “respond” if the UK supplies Ukraine ammunition loaded with depleted uranium following statements made to this effect by a British official.

“Today we learned that the United Kingdom (…) announced not only the delivery of tanks to Ukraine, but also howitzers with depleted uranium (…). If this happens, Russia will be forced to respond, since the West will have started using weapons with nuclear components,” Putin said.

“It seems that The West has really decided to fight Russia to the last Ukrainian, not with words, but with actions,” he added. The spokeswoman for the Russian Foreign Ministry, Maria Zajarova, has also been quick to react and has condemned the British government’s plan, which she has accused of creating a “Yugoslav scenario”.

“These materials not only kill but also infect the environment and they cause cancer in the people who inhabit these lands“, he asserted in a message on his Telegram account. “It is somewhat naive to think that these weapons will only cause victims among those against whom they are used. In Yugoslavia, the NATO military, especially the Italians, were the first to suffer,” he stressed.

In this sense, Zakharova urged Ukrainians to “wake up at once”. “I’m not talking about the addicts of the Presidency but about those who are still capable of thinking,” she pointed out.

British Deputy Defense Minister Annabel Goldi said on Monday night, in response to a question from a British MP, that London plans to supply Kyiv with howitzers “with depleted uranium”.

“These munitions are very effective in destroying tanks and modern armored vehicles”he stressed in his written response, explaining that the howitzers are intended for use with Challenger tanks that London will deliver to Ukraine.

“Think each next step well”

Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu stated that this decision would be “one more step” of the escalation in Ukraineand affirmed that “every time there are fewer” steps, for which reason he called on London to “think carefully about each next step”.

“Russia has what to respond with. And Russia, as they say, will not be in debt,” he added, referring to Russia’s Kornet anti-tank shells, which he says are capable of penetrating armor almost a meter thick.

For the head of Russian diplomacy, Sergei Lavrov, a step like this would mean that The United Kingdom “is ready not only to riskbut to violate international humanitarian law, as happened in Yugoslavia in 1999″.

Lavrov assured that he would not be surprised by these supplies, “but if this happens, it will end badly for them“Nothing will surprise me, because they have already lost their bearings regarding their actions and how these actions undermine strategic stability worldwide,” he added.

The use of depleted uranium projectiles is criticized for the risks they pose to health of the soldiers who use them and of the populations where they impact, although their use is not prohibited by international conventions.