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Depleted uranium shells and Kyiv's ammunition push
Summary
A look back at the military aid announcements and the Russian response in the days around 21 March 2023.
What did Western military aid to Ukraine look like on 21 March 2023? The United Kingdom confirmed that day that it would supply Ukraine with depleted uranium armour-piercing shells, to accompany its Challenger 2 main battle tanks. London said the risk of radiation contamination was low.
Russian president Vladimir Putin responded by saying that Russia would be forced to react to the British move. The exchange placed the shells, and the tanks they were meant to serve, at the centre of the argument over Western support.
Ammunition at scale
The British announcement followed a decision a day earlier. On 20 March 2023 the European Union approved a €2 billion plan to supply 1 million artillery shells to Ukraine. Taken together, the two announcements covered both heavy armour and the ammunition needed to keep guns firing.
Crimea and Mariupol
The fighting itself continued in the background. On 20 March 2023 Ukraine's Ministry of Defence said that a Russian shipment of Kalibr cruise missiles had been blown up while being transported by rail in Dzhankoi, Crimea. At least one person was reportedly injured.
On 19 March 2023 Putin visited Mariupol, in Russian-occupied Donetsk Oblast, for the first time since the invasion began.
What the sequence showed
Within three days, Moscow's leader appeared in an occupied city, a missile shipment was reported destroyed in Crimea, the EU committed billions to shell supplies, and London confirmed a new category of ammunition for its tanks. Putin's warning of a reaction to the British decision showed that Moscow was watching these deliveries closely. Beyond that warning, the day's reporting gave no detail on what form any reaction might take.
