The Yugoslav President, Vojislav Kostunica, announced yesterday that he would meet the chief prosecutor of the UN war crimes tribunal next week to discuss Nato's use of depleted uranium shells as a war crime against civilians.

Mr Kostunica explained that his change of mind about meeting the UN prosecutor Carla del Ponte was prompted by the depleted uranium (DU) issue. "Finally the lies on the use of DU became public and that was the first reason why I changed my mind about seeing Ms del Ponte.This is a serious case for The Hague tribunal," he said.

The president shares the view of many Serbs that Nato's use of depleted uranium-capped shells in its 1999 conflict with Belgrade over Kosovo should be investigated as a war crime. He had until now refused to meet Ms Del Ponte, who is to travel to Belgrade next week to discuss prosecuting indicted war criminals, including the former president, Slobodan Milosevic.

Mr Kostunica expects Ms Del Ponte to hand over secret sealed indictments of suspects. The Yugoslav President said he would reveal the names on the indictments, "as the public has every right to know them".

So far, Serbians have only been told that the tribunal has accused Mr Milosevic and four aides of war crimes in Kosovo, while several others have been indicted for their role in the Bosnian and Croatian wars.