Some of the equipment provided to Ukraine by the US and its allies has been spotted in the Russian capital, in the vicinity of Victory Park, home to museums of the victories in 1812 and 1945.
A video shared by the Russian military’s Zvezda TV channel on Tuesday showed two US-made M113 armored personnel carriers and a Bradley Infantry Fighting Vehicle (IFV), as well as the German-made Marder IFV, on transport trailers.
A Ukrainian-made ‘Azovets’ armored vehicle was also spotted on its way to the complex.
Hundreds of obsolete M113s, first deployed in the 1960s, have been sent to Ukraine by the US and its allies over the past two years. It was not clear where the one to be displayed may have been taken.
Washington followed up the deliveries with the Bradley IFV, which first saw service in the 1980s. Many of them were destroyed in the first days of Ukraine’s Zaporozhye offensive, last June. One was famously captured while still running by an “Anime squad” of Russian volunteers.
A German-made Marder was captured in near-pristine condition in late March near the former Ukrainian stronghold of Avdeevka in Donbass. After running some tests, the Russian military concluded it was too heavy, underpowered, and overall ill-suited to the Ukraine battlefield.
The final trophy appeared to be the ‘Azovets’, a Ukrainian-designed heavy fighting vehicle that mysteriously vanished from its factory in 2016. It was eventually found buried at a base of the neo-Nazi “Azov” battalion, near Mariupol.
Muscovites have speculated that the trophies will either be put on display, or be shown off during the Victory Day parade on May 9, the annual celebration of the triumph over Nazi Germany.
A captured Ukrainian Leopard 2A6 – donated either by Germany or another NATO member – was towed from the frontline over the weekend. It will presumably end up at the Kubinka tank museum located at Patriot Park outside Moscow.