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Ukrainian soldiers take part in training on the use of depleted uranium bullets. Photo/youtube/UK Ministry of Defense
KIEV – The UK announced on Monday (27/3/2023) that Ukrainian soldiers trained in Challenger 2 tanks have completed the course and returned home.
The British Ministry of Defense (MoD) released a documentary showing among other things Ukrainians handling depleted uranium armor-piercing rounds.
British instructors and at least one US officer, seen in the Ministry of Defense (MOD) video spent weeks training Ukrainian soldiers how to crew main battle tanks.
London promised to send 14 Challenger 2 tanks to Kiev. Some of them are reported to have reached Ukraine.
The US has promised several M1 Abrams MBT tanks, while several NATO members have delivered German-made Leopards.
All Western tanks require four crews, including manual loaders, unlike the three-man crews of the native Ukrainian tank fleet T-64 and T-72.
The loader has to handle standard NATO armor-piercing rounds, which are made with depleted uranium (DU) rods. The munitions have been linked to skyrocketing rates of cancer and birth defects in the former Yugoslavia and Iraq.
