The United Kingdom also intends to supply high-yield armor-piercing anti-tank munitions containing depleted uranium to Ukraine.
The revelation was made yesterday by Baroness Annabel Goldie, deputy defense minister in Rishi Sunak's Tory government, during a minor hearing in the non-elective House of Lords, which went completely silent on the island, until today bounced by the Ukrainian media.
Responding to a question tabled on this specific point by the ninety-year-old Lord Hylton, veteran of the assembly, aristocrat, ex-soldier and philanthropist who has long been involved in peace initiatives, Baroness Goldie - as stated in the stenogram of the Westminster Parliament website - he dryly claimed this in reference to the latest British war supplies made available to Kiev:
"Together with a squadron of Challenger 2 heavy combat tanks - he cut short - we will also send the relevant ammunition: including armor-piercing shells that contain depleted uranium ".
"These shells - Goldie then remarked in response to Lord Hylton's alarmed tone - are highly effective for neutralizing modern" Russian tanks and armored vehicles.
ANSA Agency
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The reaction from Moscow was immediate.
Russia will be forced to react to Western supplies of uranium munitions, President Vladimir Putin said.
"They are trying to fight this conflict not only in theory to the last Ukrainian but also in practice:
the West is starting to use weapons with nuclear elements,"
he stressed.
For his part, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said that if Britain were to supply depleted uranium munitions to Ukraine, "there is no doubt it will end badly" for London.
“I wouldn't be surprised by this development, if this (handover) actually takes place, but there is no doubt that it will end badly for them,”
Lavrov said.
"I haven't heard of these deliveries, but I wouldn't be surprised by anything, because they have completely lost their sense of direction regarding their actions and how they undermine strategic stability around the world," he said.
