The Russian Foreign Ministry on Thursday castigated the White House’s reported statement that the depleted uranium munitions which Washington is supplying to Ukraine do not pose a major radioactive threat.
"I wrote many times about the toxicity of depleted uranium, the special danger of radioactive dust for human health and soil contamination with radionuclides, I would like to remind everyone that the number of cancer cases spiked in the areas where depleted uranium munitions have been used," Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said in response to a question by reporters in Moscow.
According to her, the history of the usage of depleted uranium munitions in erstwhile Yugoslavia was a testament to the destruction these controversial weapons can cause to human lives.
"NATO military personnel can testify to that, especially Italian servicemen, who did not know about this during the bloc’s aggression against Yugoslavia," she added.
Russia has repeatedly slammed Western supplies of cluster munitions to Ukraine, terming their us as inhumane and responsible for the death of journalists covering the Ukraine conflict. Notably, Sputnik war correspondent Rostislav Zhuravlev died in the zone of the special military op in July. His wounds resulted from the cluster munitions exploding.
Usage of Depleted Uranium Shells Caused Widespread Sufferings in Serbia
Zakharova pointed out that a report published by the Italian parliament mentioned the sufferings of the people of Yugoslavia after NATO used depleted uranium shells during their bombing campaign in the country in 1999.
"Out of the 7,500 people subjected to the effects of toxic agents and radiation, 372 have died (that is a 5 percent mortality rate, or every 20th person). Moreover, they died of painful cancer complications such as renal dysfunction, lung cancer, bone cancer, oesophagus cancer, degenerative skin disorder, Hodgkin’s lymphoma, and leukaemia," the Russian MFA official asserted.
NATO's military intervention in Yugoslavia also resulted in the spread of various diseases among the Serbians following the bloc's decision to drop bombs in and around Serb-majority regions of the former sovereign state.
NATO's unilateral aggression against Yugoslavia came following allegations that the Yugoslav forces were targeting ethnic Albanians in the then Southeast and Central European nation.
The Serbian Health Ministry noted that the country experienced a spike in many diseases, particularly in the areas that were targeted by NATO's military campaign.
This included a jump in cases of cancer, reduced male fertility, and pathological pregnancies, besides an increase in mental disorders among children and a rise in autoimmune diseases across age groups.