Ukraine: Depleted Uranium

Lord Bellingham Excerpts

Thursday 30th March 2023 Lords Chamber

[Lord Harlech (Con)]

My Lords, on escalation, it needs to be reiterated that Putin signalled his intention to station tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus as early as June 2022. He has been playing this game for a long time and is simply trying to capitalise on the supply of these munitions to our Ukrainian allies.

[Lord Bellingham (Con)]

My Lords, the Minister mentioned a number of organisations that have concluded that these weapons were safe, but is he aware that the Royal Society carried out a report and concluded that any impact on personal health and the environment is, in its words, “very low”? Does he also agree that it is incredibly hypocritical of the Kremlin to criticise this supply of weapons when it has been using depleted uranium shells from the start of the war?

[Lord Harlech (Con)]

My noble friend raises several excellent points, all of which I agree with.