The U.S. administration plans to announce the start of the U.S. deliveries of depleted uranium munitions to Ukraine later Wednesday, Politico said, citing an unnamed U.S. official familiar with the situation.

"The Biden administration will for the first time send controversial depleted-uranium munitions to Ukraine as part of a new package of aid to be announced Wednesday," the publication said.

According to an unnamed Pentagon official, the United States decided to send the munitions because they are considered the most effective way of arming U.S.-made Abrams tanks. The first tranche of ten Abrams will arrive in Ukraine in the middle of September, after a group of Ukrainian soldiers finished a training program to use them last month.

The U.S. officials say that while depleted uranium is a by-product of uranium enrichment, "do not present a radioactive threat." According to Politico, Washington cites an IAEA study, according to which "the existence of depleted uranium residues dispersed in the environment does not pose a radiological hazard to the population of the affected regions."

However, opponents such as the International Coalition to Ban Uranium Weapons say there are dangerous health risks, including cancer, from touching or ingesting depleted-uranium dust.

In June, The Wall Street Journal reported that the White House was considering the possibility of supplying Kyiv with this kind of ammunition.

Prior to that, in April, it became known that the British authorities handed over to Ukraine several thousand shells for Challenger 2 tanks, some of which contain depleted uranium.

In July, the U.S. authorities decided to supply Ukraine with cluster munitions.