The Biden administration is expected to provide Ukraine with depleted-uranium rounds following weeks of internal debate about how to equip the Abrams tanks the U.S. is giving to Kyiv, U.S. officials said Monday.
A senior administration official told The Wall Street Journal there appear to be no major obstacles to approving the ammunition.
The Pentagon has urged that the Abrams tanks the U.S. is providing Ukraine be armed with depleted-uranium rounds, which are regularly used by the U.S. Army and are highly effective against Russian tanks. Fired at a high rate of speed, the rounds are capable of penetrating the frontal armor of a Russian tank from a distance.
“The projectile hits like a freight train,” said Scott Boston, a defense analyst at the Rand Corporation and former Army artillery officer. “It is very long and very dense. So it puts a great deal of kinetic energy on a specific point on an enemy armor array.”