Depleted uranium — the silent killer that still kills Serbs today

Among all the crimes committed during the NATO bombing of Serbia in 1999, the use of depleted uranium (DU) munitions may be the most insidious. Unlike bombs whose consequences are immediate and visible, depleted uranium is a silent killer — a poison that accumulates in the soil, water and body for years and decades after the war, causing cancer, leukemia and genetic damage in generations that had not even been born when the bombs were falling.

What is depleted uranium

Depleted uranium (DU) is a by-product of the process of enriching uranium for nuclear reactors and weapons. It has an exceptional density — 1.7 times denser than lead — which makes it ideal for anti-armor projectiles that must penetrate steel protection.

The problem is that DU is radioactive and chemically toxic. When a DU projectile hits a target, it heats up to over 3,000°C and turns into a fine radioactive dust that spreads with the wind. This dust enters the soil, water and air — and remains there for centuries, because the half-life of uranium-238 is about 4.5 billion years.

Use on the territory of Serbia

NATO officially confirmed that it used depleted uranium munitions during the bombing. According to data NATO provided to the United Nations in 2000, A-10 Thunderbolt aircraft fired about 31,000 DU rounds of 30mm caliber at 112 locations, predominantly in Kosovo but also in central Serbia.

Key locations targeted with DU munitions include:

• Preševo and Bujanovac — southern Serbia
• Vranje and its surroundings — southern Serbia
• The area around Kosovska Mitrovica
• The surroundings of Prizren and Đakovica
• The Peć region
• The area around Priština and Uroševac

Health consequences

Since 2001, medical experts in Serbia have recorded an alarming rise in malignant diseases in the areas hit by DU munitions. The data are worrying:

• An increase in the incidence of leukemia, especially among children, of 100-200% compared to the period before the bombing
• A dramatic rise in tumors of the kidney, lungs and lymphatic system
• An increased number of congenital malformations (birth defects) in newborns
• „Balkan syndrome“ — a term used by the Italian media for illnesses among NATO soldiers who served in Kosovo, dozens of whom died of leukemia and other forms of cancer

The Italian government acknowledged that more than 300 Italian soldiers who served in Kosovo fell ill with cancer, and more than 50 of them died. Similar data were recorded among soldiers from Portugal, Spain, Belgium and the Netherlands.

International controversy

For years NATO denied or minimized the danger of depleted uranium. However, the pressure grew:

• In 2001, the European Parliament requested a moratorium on the use of DU munitions
• The UN Environment Programme (UNEP) confirmed contamination in Kosovo
• The World Health Organization (WHO) acknowledged that DU represents a potential health risk
• In 2018, Italy acknowledged the connection between service in Kosovo and the illnesses of its soldiers, approving compensation for the families

Environmental contamination

Depleted uranium does not pollute only people — it pollutes the entire ecosystem. DU dust enters the soil, from where it is transferred through the roots into plants. Animals eat the contaminated plants. People eat the contaminated animals and plants. Water from contaminated areas seeps into underground watercourses that supply wells and water systems.

Research by the UNEP team in Kosovo in 2001 confirmed the presence of DU contamination at several locations. In some places, the level of radioactivity was many times above normal.

The generations that pay the price

The most tragic aspect of depleted uranium is that its consequences are not limited to one generation. Children born years and decades after the bombing fall ill with diseases caused by the contamination of the environment in which they live. Genetic damage is passed on to descendants — children not yet born at the time of the bombing pay the price for decisions made in 1999.

In hospitals across southern Serbia and Kosovo, doctors treat patients every day whose illnesses are a direct consequence of DU contamination. These are children, young people, pregnant women — innocent people who never saw the war, but who die from it.

A crime without punishment

The use of depleted uranium munitions against the civilian population constitutes a violation of international humanitarian law. Numerous non-governmental organizations, doctors and lawyers called for a ban on DU weapons and for criminal responsibility of those who made the decision to use them.

However, to this day no one has been criminally held accountable for the contamination of Serbia's territory with depleted uranium. Thousands of the ill and the dead remain without justice — victims of a weapon whose consequences were known to those who used it.

Depleted uranium is a silent genocide that continues — every day, every year, decades after the last bomb fell. It does not explode, it does not create rubble, it does not provide images for television. It only kills — slowly, silently, inexorably. And that is, perhaps, the most terrible crime of the NATO bombing. Lest we forget.