Ukraine-Russia war: US sends depleted uranium to Kyiv as drones reported near Rostov military base

Nato does not have any indication that drone debris found on Romanian territory was caused by an intentional attack launched by Moscow against Romania, the alliance’s chief said on Thursday.

“We don’t have any information indicating an intentional attack by Russia, and we are awaiting the outcome of the ongoing investigation,” Nato Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg told EU lawmakers.

Ukraine is making progress with a counter offensive started in June to reclaim territory seized by Russia, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said on Thursday.

“The Ukrainians are gradually gaining ground…They have been able to breach the defensive lines of the Russian forces, and they are moving forward,” Stoltenberg told lawmakers in remarks at the European Parliament.

Russian attacks on Ukraine‘s Danube river ports will slow down the export of grains and other routes need to be enhanced, Romanian President Klaus Iohannis said.

Since July, when Moscow abandoned a deal that lifted a de facto Russian blockade of Ukraine‘s Black Sea ports, it has repeatedly struck Ukrainian river ports that lie across the Danube from Romania.

Romania’s Black Sea port of Constanta is Ukraine‘s largest alternative export route, with grains arriving by road, rail or barge on the Danube. Ukraine is one of the world’s biggest grain exporters.

President Iohannis, speaking late on Wednesday at a summit of Three Seas Initiative countries in Bucharest, said: “Of course the attacks on Ukrainian ports on the Danube are a huge problem. Of course it will in a way slow down exports.”

“We will enhance the other routes, we accepted Ukrainian maritime transports through our Romanian territorial waters off the Black Sea, we will continue to enhance exports on the rail and on the road.”

Russian deputy foreign minister Sergei Ryabkov said on Thursday that the US supply of depleted uranium weapons to Ukraine was “a criminal act”, state media reported.

The Pentagon on Wednesday announced a new security assistance package worth up to $175 million for Ukraine, including depleted uranium ammunition for U.S. Abrams tanks.

A by-product of uranium enrichment, depleted uranium is used for ammunition because its extreme density gives rounds the ability to easily penetrate armor plating. Critics say there are dangerous health risks from ingesting or inhaling depleted uranium dust, including cancers and birth defects.

“This is not just an escalatory step, but it is a reflection of Washington’s outrageous disregard for the environmental consequences of using this kind of ammunition in a combat zone. This is, in fact, a criminal act, I cannot give any other assessment,” TASS quoted Ryabkov as saying.

In a speech at a security seminar, he also reiterated previous warnings by Russia about the risk of a nuclear war, because of what he called Western “pressure” on Moscow.

“Now this pressure is dangerously balancing on the brink of direct armed conflict between nuclear powers,” he said.

Russian drone strikes have damaged port infrastructure, a grain silo and administrative buildings in the Izmail district of Ukraine‘s Odesa region, governor Oleh Kiper said.

One person was injured in the attack, the fourth on the key Danube river port in the last five days, the governor said on his Telegram channel.

Ukraine’s military reported shooting down 25 of the 33 drones it said were launched by Russia. Most were aimed at the Odesa region, but some also targeted the northern area of Sumy, it added.

Russia has amped up its attacks on Ukraine’s grain export infrastructure as talks on resumption Black Sea grain deal to allow unhindered exports of grain from Ukrainian ports get underway.

Russian deputy foreign minister Sergei Ryabkov said Washington is committing a “criminal act” by supplying depleted Uranium weapons to Ukraine shortly after the Pentagon announced a new batch of military aid for the war-hit country.

The new security assistance package is worth up to $175m and includes depleted uranium ammunition for Abrams tanks, the first time the US is sending the controversial armour-piercing munitions to Kyiv. Depleted uranium is a byproduct of the uranium enrichment process needed to create nuclear weapons.

Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine has been continuing for more than 20 months now and has seen Russia deploy hypersonic missiles to thermobaric weapons on civilian targets.

Romania’s defence minister has said pieces apparently of a drone from Russia’s recent attacks on Ukraine’s port on the Danube River have been found on the territory of his country.

Angel Tilvar, the minister, told local news channel Antena 3 CNN that parts of what was most likely a drone were discovered in the eastern Tulcea county, an area of the Danube that forms a natural border between Romania and war-torn Ukraine.

“I confirm that in this area, pieces that may be of a drone were found,” he said, adding that the pieces didn’t pose a threat.

It’s unclear if Romania has determined when or from where the drone was launched. There has been a series of recent attacks by Russia on Danube ports in Ukraine, which are close to Romania, a Nato member since 2004.

At least 17 people were killed and 32 wounded in a Russian attack on a crowded market in eastern Ukraine’s Kostiantynivka city yesterday. The attack coincided with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s visit to Kyiv, Ukrainian officials said.

Footage widely circulated online by Volodymyr Zelensky and other presidential officials showed people falling to the ground or running for cover after a huge explosion rocked the busy market in front of them, seconds after some look up to the sky when they hear what sounds like a missile approaching.

Mr Zelensky condemned the attack, saying a market, shops and a pharmacy had been struck in the industrial city close to the battlefield.

“This Russian evil must be defeated as soon as possible,” he said. “When someone in the world still attempts to deal with anything Russian, it means turning a blind eye to this reality. The audacity of evil. The brazenness of wickedness. Utter inhumanity.”

He later told a press conference in the capital Kyiv that he believed it had been a deliberate attack on “a peaceful city”.

Russia denounced Biden administration’s plan to provide Ukraine with arms containing depleted uranium and said it is an indicator of “inhumanity”.

“The administration’s decision to supply weapons with depleted uranium is an indicator of inhumanity,” Russia’s embassy in Washington said on Telegram.

“Clearly, with its idea of inflicting a ‘strategic defeat’, Washington is prepared to fight not only to the last Ukrainian but also to do away with entire generations.”

The Pentagon announced a new security assistance package worth up to $175m for Ukraine, including depleted uranium ammunition for Abrams tanks.

This is the first time the US is sending the controversial armour-piercing munitions to Kyiv.

Around 11,000 Ukrainian children being detained at 43 re-education camps across Russia, the British ministry of defence has said.

“Their simple right to life and liberty is being impacted.,” the department said on Twitter on Wednesday morning.

The government also published a map showing the latest territorial gains from either side.