Russia arms missiles with uranium in new Ukraine attacks

 Russia has fired missiles armed with depleted uranium warheads at northern Ukraine, causing radiation levels to spike around bomb sites.

The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) said it found harmful levels of radiation emanating from an unexploded R-60 air-to-air missile after an attack on the village of Kamka in the Chernihiv region last month.

The source of the radiation was identified as Uranium-235 and Uranium-238, it added.

Depleted uranium is a leftover material from the enrichment process used to produce nuclear fuel and weapons, making it less radioactive than natural uranium.

It is roughly two-and-a-half times more dense than steel, which makes it particularly effective for piercing heavy armour on the battlefield, and is used by the British Army.

When a weapon made with a depleted uranium tip strikes a solid object, like the side of a tank, it goes straight through it and then erupts in a burning cloud of vapour.

The vapour settles as dust, which is poisonous and slightly radioactive.

Investigators recorded a gamma radiation level of 12 microsieverts per hour, which “significantly exceeds natural background radiation and is a threat to human health”. Ambient background gamma radiation is between 0.05 and 0.3 microsieverts per hour.

“Given the toxicity and radioactivity of depleted uranium, we urge citizens to be especially careful if they encounter fragments of UAVs, missiles or other munitions,” the SBU said.

It added that damaged or burnt munitions pose the greatest hazard, since they can release radioactive dust. SBU investigators said they had opened a pre-trial investigation under the article of Ukraine’s criminal code dealing with war crimes.

In 2023, Vladimir Putin threatened to retaliate against the British Government if it sent armour-piercing shell rounds made using depleted uranium to Ukraine, which Moscow said would be equivalent to using “dirty nuclear bombs”.

“Russia will have to respond accordingly, given that the West collectively is already beginning to use weapons with a nuclear component,” he said.

Britain did so anyway.

Depleted uranium ‘standard component’ of missiles

Depleted uranium “is a standard component and has nothing to do with nuclear weapons”, the Ministry of Defence (MoD) said.

“The British Army has used depleted uranium in its armour piercing shells for decades,” the statement added.

“Russia knows this, but is deliberately trying to disinform. Independent research by scientists from groups such as the Royal Society has assessed that any impact on personal health and the environment from the use of depleted uranium munitions is likely to be low.”

A host of weaponry in Russia’s Soviet-era arsenal, which has been used liberally in Ukraine, contains depleted uranium.

As well as R-60M and R-60MK air-to-air missiles, depleted uranium components are used in other short-range missiles such as the R-73, which was first developed in the Soviet Union.

The Ukrainian military has also documented instances of depleted uranium being used in Russian tank ammunition such as 3BM32 Vant and 3BM59 Svinets-1 rounds, which are designed to penetrate the thick shields of Nato armoured vehicles.

Serhii Beskrestnov, a Ukrainian defence ministry adviser, described the R-60 as “a very old Soviet missile”, adding “its warhead uses special rods made of depleted uranium. They are very dangerous.” He said Ukraine records one such launch every week.

However, he explained that Russia is unlikely to be actively using the technology as a “radiological weapon”, saying in comments to the Ukrainian Independent Information Agency that “this was simply a Soviet-era manufacturing technology for the warhead ... in Soviet times they were installed as a destructive element. But now we see that they emit radiation.”

Moscow committing ‘ecocide’

A 2022 UN Environment Programme (UNEP) report said depleted uranium was an environmental concern in Ukraine.

“Depleted uranium and toxic substances in common explosives can cause skin irritation, kidney failure and increase the risks of cancer,” it said.

“The chemical toxicity of depleted uranium is considered a more significant issue than the possible impacts of its radioactivity,” it added.

The Kremlin’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine has caused sweeping, long-term environmental destruction, which has been described by Kyiv as well as some international analysts as “ecocide”.

As Russian forces reduce cities to rubble, destroyed buildings release clouds of carcinogenic dust, which can remain toxic for decades, into the air. Each strike also produces hazardous emissions, including heavy metals such as lead and mercury.

Ukraine and Russia have also consistently accused each other of strikes on nuclear infrastructure. A protective shield covering the Chernobyl nuclear reactor was seriously damaged and unable to confine radioactive waste after a strike in 2025, which Ukraine attributed to the Kremlin, raising concerns of nuclear contamination.