Ukrainian officials are accusing Russia of using missiles containing depleted uranium components during recent attacks, after investigators reportedly detected elevated radiation levels around strike debris in northern Ukraine.
According to The Telegraph, Ukraine’s Security Service (SBU) recovered fragments of modified Soviet-era R-60 missiles attached to Shahed-style drones following strikes in Chernihiv Oblast. Ukrainian authorities said forensic testing identified traces of uranium-235 and uranium-238 inside the warhead material:
Investigators recorded a gamma radiation level of 12 microsieverts per hour, which “significantly exceeds natural background radiation and is a threat to human health”. Ambient background gamma radiation is between 0.05 and 0.3 microsieverts per hour.
“Given the toxicity and radioactivity of depleted uranium, we urge citizens to be especially careful if they encounter fragments of UAVs, missiles or other munitions,” the SBU said.
It added that damaged or burnt munitions pose the greatest hazard, since they can release radioactive dust. SBU investigators said they had opened a pre-trial investigation under the article of Ukraine’s criminal code dealing with war crimes.
In 2023, Vladimir Putin threatened to retaliate against the British Government if it sent armour-piercing shell rounds made using depleted uranium to Ukraine, which Moscow said would be equivalent to using “dirty nuclear bombs”.
The allegations emerged amid an escalating phase of the war in which both Russia and Ukraine have intensified long-range drone and missile operations. Russia has increasingly modified older Soviet weapons systems and combined them with Iranian-designed Shahed drones to overwhelm Ukrainian air defenses.
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