MOSCOW: The Kremlin on Thursday denounced US plans to provide depleted uranium tank rounds to Ukraine, saying Washington would be responsible for any negative lingering impact of the munitions’ use. Depleted uranium munitions are controversial due to their association with health problems such as cancer and birth defects in areas where they were used in past conflicts, though they have not been definitively proven to have caused such issues.

The Pentagon announced this week it would provide Ukraine with the rounds as part of a $1 billion aid package that coincided with an unannounced visit to Kyiv by US Secretary of State Antony Blinken. “This is very bad news,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said. “The use of these shells has resulted in a galloping increase in the number of cancer patients ... The same situation will inevitably await those Ukrainian territories where they will be used.”

“Responsibility will lie with the US,” he added. Russian President Vladimir Putin has warned that he would deploy depleted uranium ammunition if Ukraine received the arms. Ukraine, which has been asking for more Western help, launched a counteroffensive against Russian forces in June after building up assault battalions and stockpiling Western weapons..

Peskov also criticized Blinken’s announcement that the US would give Ukraine $5.4 million in forfeited oligarch assets to support veterans as part of the package. “We consider all cases related to the seizure and other withholding of any funds related to state property or private property of the Russian Federation to be illegal,” Peskov said. “One way or another they will lead to legal proceedings.”

No Romania attack

NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg said Thursday there was no sign Russia had launched a deliberate attack on alliance member Romania, after possible drone debris was found near its border with Ukraine. Stoltenberg said Romania on Wednesday informed its NATO allies of the discovery and that it “demonstrates the risk of incidents and accidents”. “We don’t have any information indicating any intentional attack by Russia and we are awaiting the outcome of the ongoing investigation,” NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg told EU lawmakers.

“Regardless of that outcome, what we have seen of course is a lot of fighting and also air attacks close to NATO borders.” Romanian President Klaus Iohannis on Wednesday called for an “urgent investigation” into debris, believed to be the remains of a drone, which was discovered on its soil following attacks in neighboring Ukraine. The revelation came after NATO member Romania repeatedly rejected claims by Kyiv that Iranian-made Russian drones fell and detonated on Romanian territory during a strike on the Ukrainian port of Izmail on Sunday night.

Since Russia’s all-out invasion last February, NATO has been focused on preventing the war in Ukraine from spilling over onto its territory. Any attack on one of its members could drag NATO into a potentially nuclear conflict with Moscow owing to the US-led alliance’s joint defense pact. Fears soared of a potential flare-up in November last year when a missile from across the border killed two people in Poland. NATO said the projectile was a Ukrainian air defense missile and not fired by Russia. – AFP