US sending Ukraine uranium-based ammo ‘very bad news,’ according to Russian spokesman

The U.S. military is supplying Ukraine depleted uranium ammunition in a move that a Kremlin spokesman called “very bad news," as Kyiv aims to push through Russian forces.

Such armor-piercing rounds were developed by the U.S. during the Cold War to destroy Soviet tanks, including the same T-72 tanks that Ukraine now faces in its counteroffensive.

Depleted uranium is a byproduct of the uranium enrichment process needed to create nuclear weapons. The rounds retain some radioactive properties, but they can’t generate a nuclear reaction like a nuclear weapon would, RAND nuclear expert and policy researcher Edward Geist said.