Captured British armoured cars have been put on display in Moscow alongside weapons and tanks seized from Ukrainian forces.
A Saxon armoured personnel carrier, part of a consignment donated to Ukraine in 2015, was pictured alongside a German Leopard tank in Moscow’s Victory Park.
The open-air museum, which commemorates Germany’s defeat in the Second World War, has been transformed into a glorification of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Described as a celebration of Russia’s success ‘against Ukrainian militants and their Western supporters’, the captured vehicles were displayed beneath red banners reading ‘Our victory is inevitable’.
The month-long exhibit will also feature an American Bradley tank, a Swedish CV90 and a French-made AMX-10RC armoured fighting vehicle.
Weapons and tanks from nine other countries including Turkey, Sweden, Czechoslovakia, South Africa, Finland, Australia and Austria are also set to feature in the show, along with Ukrainian combat documents and ‘ideological literature’.
Opening to visitors on May 1, the exhibition will run alongside Moscow’s Red Square Victory Day Parade on May 9 in commemoration of Russia’s victory against the Nazis.
Trucks transporting the captured military equipment from NATO nations donated to the Armed Forces of Ukraine were seen arriving at Poklonnaya Hill last week.
The exhibition was announced by the Russian Ministry of Defence just days after they disclosed that Russian marines had seized a number of Western-made weapons during their operation to take the village of Novomikhailovka in eastern Ukraine.
A similar event was held last year at Patriot Park near Moscow, where Russia also showcased a range of captured Western military equipment – including an American-made M113 armoured personnel carrier and a fully intact French-made Storm Shadow cruise missile.
Russian forces have previously crowed about captured weaponry in footage posted to their official channel on the Telegram messaging application.
In a video posted last year, the Russian MoD called what appeared to be several Leopard tanks ‘our trophies’, showing soldiers inspecting the equipment.
US military officials recently revealed that Ukraine had sidelined their US Abrams M1A1 tanks due to their easy detection by Russian drones.
Five of the 31 Abrams sent to Ukraine by the US in January 2023 have already been lost to Russian attacks.
Ukraine’s army leader admitted on Sunday that Kyiv’s position on the battlefield has worsened after Russian forces captured another village in the east, pressing their advantage in manpower and ammunition.
Russia’s troops are advancing in the eastern Donetsk region as Kyiv awaits the arrival of much-needed US weapons that it hopes will stabilise the fragile front lines.
‘The situation at the front has worsened,’ Ukrainian commander-in-chief Oleksandr Syrsky said in a Facebook post Sunday.
Ukrainian troops had ‘retreated’ westwards to new defensive lines in a section of the front that runs past the city of Donetsk, controlled by pro-Russian forces since 2014.
Russia has ‘a significant advantage in forces and means’ and had been able to notch up advances amid ‘heavy fighting’, Syrsky said.
‘In some sectors the enemy had tactical success, and in some areas our troops managed to improve the tactical position,’ he added.
Russia’s defence ministry earlier on Sunday claimed its troops had captured the village of Novobakhmutivka in the Donetsk region – six miles north of Avdiivka, which they seized in February.
Emily Foster is a globe-trotting journalist based in the UK. Her articles offer readers a global perspective on international events, exploring complex geopolitical issues and providing a nuanced view of the world’s most pressing challenges.
