Ukrainian chronicle: London confirmed the delivery of DU munitions to Kyiv

British weapons containing depleted uranium already in Ukraine.
Photo: Firstpost

- British supplies of depleted uranium (DU) munitions show the “ruthlessness” of Western policy in Ukraine, Moscow has said. Russia has condemned the UK’s decision to send DU shells to Ukraine, saying the move marks an “all-out escalation” after the British Defence Ministry confirmed the radioactive weapons were already in Kyiv’s hands.

The UK armed forces minister James Heappey said that the government has already started shipments of depleted uranium ammunition to Ukraine.

In response to questions from Scottish MP Kenny MacAskill, Heappey confirmed that DU munitions for the UK-made Challenger 2 tank had already arrived in Ukraine, though declined to comment on Kyiv’s “usage rates for the rounds provided. “We have sent thousands of rounds of Challenger 2 ammunition to Ukraine, including depleted uranium armour-piercing rounds,” he said.

DU munitions constitute regular munitions’ package for MBT Challenger 2 and the US Abrams, and other types of NATO weapons.

- Ukraine will run out of most of its anti-air defense missiles by May, 2023, the Wall Street Journal reported early in April, citing classified Pentagon documents leaked on social media. Facing the overall prospect of Russian air superiority, Kiev is hesitating to start its ‘counteroffensive’ it announced many times and delayed so far by now.

According to a purported Pentagon presentation, Ukraine is expending around 69 Buk missiles and 200 S-300 missiles per month, the newspaper reported. At this rate of fire, Kiev’s forces will be out of Buk ammunition by the end of this week, and will deplete its S-300 stockpile by May 3, it said.

- In total, the members of this Contact [so-called “Ramstein Format”] Group have provided more than $55 billion to conduct undeclared war against Russia. That’s a tenfold increase since the group first met, Pentagon chief Lloyd Austin boasted at a meeting of NATO defense ministers at the Ramstein Air Base in Germany last week.

Announcing a recent $325 million package of additional weapons aid, including more ammo for Ukraine’s HIMARS artillery, 105 and 155 mm shells, etc., Pentagon officials announced that the USA alone had contributed over $39.1 billion or more according to other sources [see the chart below] in “security assistance” to Kiev since February 2022 when it has stared second phase of its aggression in Donbass, and since October 2022 began direct aggression against Russia.

- Situation in Artyomovsk. Russian assault teams continued destroying Ukrainian troops and mercenaries in Artyomovsk (or Bakhmut in Ukrainian) while paratroopers and the southern battlegroup provided their support on the flanks over the past day during the Special Military Operation, Defense Ministry spokesman Lieutenant-General Igor Konashenkov reported on April 26.

"In the Donetsk direction, the assault teams continued destroying Ukrainian troops and mercenaries in the western part of the city of Artyomovsk. Airborne forces and the southern battlegroup provided support to the assault teams and thwarted the Ukrainian army’s attempts to counter-attack on the northern and southern flanks," the spokesman said.

Russian assault detachments seized four city areas in the north-western, western and south-western parts of Artyomovsk. The Airborne Troops immobilized the enemy on the northern and southern outskirts of the city and supported the actions of the assault units.

All AFU supply routes to the city have been successfully cut off.

On April 27 the Russian MoD informed that last night a concentrated strike by long-range, sea-based high-precision weapons has been launched against the AFU reserves' deployment areas. The goal of the attack has been reached. All the assigned targets have been neutralized. The movement of the AFU Marines into the combat areas has been blocked.

During the last 24 hours Russian forces destroyed totally over 490 Ukrainian troops and foreign mercenaries in their advance in the Donetsk and in the other areas.

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