Vladimir Putin has given his most stern “nuclear” threat to date to the UK over sending “depleted uranium” tank shells to the Ukraine.
The Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu warned the UK over sending more ammunition saying, there are “fewer and fewer steps” to a nuclear strike.
Following a meeting with the Chinese President Xi Jinping Putin said that Moscow will be “forced to respond” if the UK provides Ukraine with more depleted uranium tank shells, and Britain will be sending more.
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He said, “The United Kingdom announced not only the supply of tanks to Ukraine, but also shells with depleted uranium.
“If this happens, Russia will be forced to respond accordingly, given that the West collectively is already beginning to use weapons with a nuclear component.”
The Russian Defence Minister was asked if the world is closer to a nuclear retaliation because the UK is sending weaponry to Ukraine, Shoigu replied, “It was not by chance that I told you about steps. There are fewer and fewer.”
When asked over the UK sending deleted uranium ammunition, Shoigu said, “naturally Russia has something to answer this with.”
Following a statement from UK Defence Minister Annabel Goldie on Monday when she was asked if “any of the ammunition currently being supplied to Ukraine contains depleted uranium.”
She wrote, “Alongside our granting of a squadron of Challenger 2 main battle tanks to Ukraine, we will be providing ammunition including armour piercing rounds which contain depleted uranium.
“Such rounds are highly effective in defeating modern tanks and armoured vehicles.”
UK Foreign Secretary James Cleverly said, “There is no nuclear escalation.
“The only country in the world that is talking about nuclear issues is Russia.
“There is no threat to Russia, this is purely about helping Ukraine defend itself.”
Colonel Hamish de Bretton-Gordon, a former army officer said that Putin’s comments are “absolutely bonkers” and “completely wrong.”
He said, there is “no doubt to persuade President Xi to give him weapons and to terrify people in the West that he is planning to escalate to nuclear weapons.”
He added that depleted uranium “cannot be used as a nuclear fuel or turned into a nuclear weapon. Putin has been using the nuclear escalation card since the beginning of the war to keep NATO out, but it has not worked.”
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