Russia claims to destroy Ukraine's missiles stocks & depleted-uranium shells

The Russian Defence Ministry has reported a series of strikes resulting in the destruction of Western-supplied cruise missiles and depleted uranium shells within Ukraine. Moscow revealed that Russian forces have conducted 12 group attacks on various Ukrainian targets since last Sunday, reported RT.

The targeted strikes encompassed a range of Ukrainian facilities, including aircraft and armoured vehicle repair facilities, oil refineries, ammunition depots, foreign-made arms storage, training centres for Ukrainian saboteurs, and accommodations occupied by foreign mercenaries, as detailed in the ministry's statement. High-precision, long-range ground- and air-based missiles, as well as drones, were utilised during these attacks.

"As a result of the attacks, significant damage was delivered to the logistics system of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, operating in the Kherson and Zaporozhye directions," the statement read. Furthermore, the ministry noted that "part of the stocks of cruise missiles and depleted uranium shells" provided to Ukraine by Western supporters were destroyed in these strikes, along with foreign-made multiple rocket launchers and air-defence systems.

Western-supplied munitions targeted in Russian counterattacks

Ukraine had received Storm Shadow/SCALP-Eg long-range, air-launched cruise missiles from the UK and France earlier this year, which have been employed by Kyiv to target Russian installations, including those in Crimea. According to Sky News, Storm Shadows were used in a Ukrainian strike on the headquarters of the Russian Black Sea Fleet in Sevastopol, resulting in a significant impact. According to Russia's Defence Ministry, Russia successfully intercepted five incoming missiles, the debris caused damage to the building and sparked a fire, with one soldier reported missing.

According to RT, the UK has been supplying Ukraine with depleted-uranium shells since March. These controversial munitions were intended for use with Challenger 2 tanks provided by London to Kyiv. The US, in line with US President Joe Biden's announcement, is set to provide Ukraine with Abrams M1 tanks equipped with depleted-uranium shells.

The use of depleted uranium munitions has raised concerns due to its past implications. The Kremlin Press Secretary, Dmitry Peskov, stated that this news was "very bad" and drew attention to the health risks associated with the use of such munitions, citing the increase in cancer and other diseases during the NATO bombing of Yugoslavia in 1999 as a potential outcome in Ukraine.