Poison as a gift. Are depleted uranium projectiles dangerous?

Following the UK, the US leadership announced the start of deliveries of anti-tank shells with depleted uranium to Ukraine.

To help the AFU break through the Russian fortification line in a grueling counteroffensive, Western partners will stop at nothing. The White House specified that the first batch of 120-mm depleted uranium shells for Abrams tanks will soon arrive in Nezalezhnaya as part of the Pentagon’s new military aid package.

The consequences of using this type of projectile caused concern at the UN and the Russian embassy called such a move “inhuman”. However, the coordinator for strategic communications at the US National Security Council, John Kirby, has already assured the world community that the shells “do not pose a radioactive threat.” Is it so?

The history of the use of “completely harmless” depleted uranium munitions found its most striking expression in the Balkans. Yugoslavia, torn to pieces, became a testing ground in 1995.  The Americans ironed the territory of present-day Bosnia and Herzegovina with them, in 1999: Serbia and Montenegro.

The aviation of the countries of the alliance dropped about 80 thousand tons of bombs, including prohibited types of ammunition: cluster shells with depleted uranium. Subsequently, NATO created a special commission, which came to the conclusion that there would be no long-term side effects from their use. However, she was wrong.