Russian President Vladimir Putin has disagreed with British claims that depleted uranium munitions have no consequences, he said on the Rossiya-24 news channel on Saturday.

"Of course, it is not like that. The fact is that, of course, they are not defined as weapons of mass destruction. That's true, but the core of a depleted uranium round (it can be made of different material, as it is used for armor-piercing purposes) still generates so-called radioactive dust and in this sense it certainly belongs to the most hazardous weapons," Putin said.

After those munitions bombarded Yugoslavia and Iraq, cancer rates surged among local citizens, the president recalled referring to expert data.

When touching upon the potential use of depleted uranium munitions in Ukraine, Putin pointed out that those who hatch plots for using these weapons in that country should view the people living in the combat zone as their citizens.

"How will they use them against people who are actually their own? I mean that these residues will dust, and among other things they will contaminate the crop areas in the regions where they will be used," Putin pointed out.