Pro-Kremlin telegram channels and Volodymyr Putin’s press secretary Dmytro Pieskov are disseminating information that the depleted uranium shells that the United States will bring to Ukraine will lead to “environmental consequences” and “an increase in the number of patients with oncology and other diseases” in Ukraine, as well as this is “a clear sign of inhumanity”. It is not true.

The US Department of Defense announced a new aid package to Ukraine, the cost of which is estimated at $175 million. The package will include tank ammunition with depleted uranium. Deputy US Department of Defense spokeswoman Sabrina Singh refuted the propaganda claim about the health effects of the shells: “The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has stated that there is no evidence that depleted uranium shells cause cancer. The World Health Organization reports that there has been no increase in cases of leukemia or other cancers following any exposure to uranium or depleted uranium”. The IAEA states that depleted uranium residues dispersed in the environment “do not pose a radiological hazard to the public”.

Moreover, Russia itself used depleted uranium shells during a full-scale war.

Thus, Russian propagandists are trying to sow panic among Ukrainians and slow down the transfer of necessary shells to Ukraine that can counter Russian tanks. Previously, we refuted the fake news that uranium ammunition exploded in the Ternopil region.