Uranium Shells to Cause Irreversible Harm to Health of Ukrainians: Russian Defence Ministry

Depleted uranium ammunition was used exclusively by NATO countries in armed conflicts, Lt. Gen. Igor Kirillov, the head of the radiation, chemical and biological defense troops of the Russian armed forces, said on Friday.

The use of uranium ammunition will cause irreversible harm to the health of the military and civilian population of Ukraine, but NATO is ready to supply them to Kiev, he added.

According to a 2016 report by the Chief Military Medical Inspector of Italy, it is reported that more than 4,000 servicemen of the national armed forces had malignant tumors of various types. These soldiers were deployed in the Balkans in 1994-1999 and in Iraq in 2003 in areas where the alliance forces used depleted uranium ammunition.

See for yourself how horriffic the consequences of using these weapons could be — in our photo gallery.

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Leukemia victim Zahra Hussein, from the southern Iraqi city of Basra, is photographed on her hospital bed in Baghdad 09 January 2001. Baghdad is holding the United States and its Western allies responsible for the widespread cancer cases in southern Iraq following the 1991 Gulf war as a result of using depleted uranium in their war machinery. The Iraqi media has highlighted recent reports that depleted uranium ammunition used by US NATO forces in the Balkans maybe to blame for a rash of cancer cases among troops posted in the region.

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Leukemia victim Sajed Ali, from the southern Iraqi city of Basra, is photographed in his hospital room in Baghdad 09 January 2001. Baghdad is holding the United States and its Western allies responsible for the widespread cancer cases in southern Iraq following the 1991 Gulf war as a result of using depleted uranium in their war machinery. The Iraqi media has highlighted recent reports that depleted uranium ammunition used by US NATO forces in the Balkans maybe to blame for a rash of cancer cases among troops posted in the region.

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A pile of 30mm anti-tank rounds is shown in a former military factory in Sarajevo suburb of Hadzici, some 16 kilometers (10 miles) south of Sarajevo, Wednesday Jan. 10, 2001. German experts started radiation measurements in a former military compound near Sarajevo that was a target during the 1995 NATO air-strikes. NATO used depleted uranium munitions during the air-strikes on Bosnian Serbs in 1995 and during the air campaign in Kosovo against Yugoslavia in 1999. The 30mm anti-tank rounds fired from American A-10 jets, use low-radiation depleted uranium because of its high penetration power. (AP Photo/Hidajet delic)

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Eight-year-old Ahmed Raadi is comforted by his mother Telba Ramadan as he waits Monday, January 15, 2001, for his weekly treatment of chemotherapy at the Ibn-Gazwan Children's Hospital in Basra, Iraq. Raadi was born blind and suffers from a brain tumor which developed when he was seven. The cancer has spread to his abdomen, causing it to swell. Doctors say that his case is hopeless. Raadi is among the increasing number of cancer cases, and the Iraqi government is renewing its claim that depleted uranium used in some of the U.S.-led allied forces' weapons during the Gulf War is to blame. (AP Photo/Enric Marti)

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An ethnic Albanian passes a Yugoslav Army tank destroyed during the NATO bombing in the western Kosovo town of Klina, Friday, Jan 5, 2001. There is growing concern over the linkage between the usage of weapons containing depleted uranium and some cases of cancer among soldiers serving in peacekeeping missions in Kosovo and Bosnia. (AP Photo/Visar Kryeziu)

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Bosnian Serb Army soldier measures levels of radiation on weapons and army equipment at a military factory in eastern Bosnian town of Bratunac, 40 miles (65 kms) southeast of Tuzla, Bosnia-Herzegovina Wednesday, Jan. 17, 2001. The factory was a target during the 1995 NATO airstrikes, and was relocated from Sarajevo suburb Hadjici to Bratunac. The army claims that 22 local workers have died of unknown causes. A former employee of the factory is diagnosed with cancer. (AP Photo/Amel Emric)

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Four-year-old Alla Saleem, who suffers from a tumor in her eye, lies on her bed as she waits for medication Monday, January 15, 2001, at the Gazwan Children's Hospital in the southern Iraq town of Basra, about 60 kilometers (37 miles) from the border with Kuwait. Iraqi authorities claim that about 300 tons of bombs with depleted uranium were used by the allied forces during the Gulf War bombing campaign, and this is responsible for the increase of cancer cases in the area. According to Doctor Jawal Al-Ali, chief cancer consultant of the Basra teaching hospital and member of the Royal College of physicians in London, the cases have multiplied by 12 since 1991.