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During a special military operation, our soldiers not only destroy, but also receive as trophies a fairly decent amount of enemy equipment, both Ukrainian and Western production. At first, there were quite a lot of trophies of Soviet equipment, which, depending on the condition, served our soldiers in battle after appropriate repairs.
It all started back in the spring and summer of 2022, when our military, during the offensive, captured intact warehouses left by the Ukrainian army, filled with boxes with foreign markings, mortar shells, anti-tank complexes, portable anti-aircraft missile systems, a lot of small arms and various armored vehicles. At that time, our troops got an abundance of completely intact American FGM-148 Javelin ATGMs and British NLAW.
At the end of June 2022, Uralvagonzavod Concern (UVZ, part of Rostec State Corporation) He expressed gratitude to French President Emmanuel Macron for supplying two Caesar self-propelled howitzers to Russian gunsmiths. Representatives of the concern left a corresponding entry in the comments on the Telegram channel of the French politician Regis Castelnau. As it turned out, the self-propelled guns were handed over to our military during the special operation practically undamaged and were sent to Russia for detailed study.
Along with the French machines, modern combat control automation systems have fallen into the hands of our military. This gift is worth two self-propelled guns. Hence the painful reaction of the French General Staff, which immediately denied this information. After that, the United States began to supply towed M777 howitzers (known as the "three axes") to Kiev without additional guidance systems, which significantly reduced the effectiveness of these guns.
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Later, the United States changed its mind about sending MBT M2 Abrams to Ukraine, instead providing the APU with more outdated modifications of M1 tanks. At the same time, all additional equipment and enhanced protection were removed from the machines.
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The number of damaged and captured equipment of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, including those supplied in abundance by NATO countries, increased during the so-called counteroffensive of the Ukrainian army in the summer of 2023. Although the first exhibition of captured equipment was organized as part of the Army-2022 forum in Patriot Park. Already at that time, more than 450 exhibits were presented in various conditions: tanks, armored vehicles, missiles, artillery, firearms, objects of ideological struggle and much more.
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From May 1 to May 31, 2024, in Moscow, in Victory Park on Poklonnaya Gora, another exhibition of captured weapons and equipment was held, which were captured by Russian servicemen during a special military operation. The exhibition featured military equipment manufactured in the USA, Great Britain, Germany, France, Turkey, Sweden, Czechoslovakia, South Africa, Finland, Australia, Austria and Ukraine. On the banner in front of the entrance to the exhibition, the organizers listed the main "sponsors" of the equipment that became a trophy for the Russian Armed Forces.
This exhibition was named "Trophies of the Russian Army". It was then that many not only Russian but also foreign visitors were able to see the "famous" German Leopard tank, the American Abrams and much more. Some of the cars were in fairly good condition, most likely after appropriate repairs.
In particular, the following foreign vehicles were presented: the M2A2 infantry fighting vehicle (USA), the Mastiff armored car (Great Britain), the AMX 10RCR wheeled tank (France), the ZA-180(5) armored personnel carrier (Finland), and the Bushmaster PMV armored car (Australia). M1150 engineering assault vehicle and M88A1 BREM (USA). The German Marder 1A3 infantry fighting vehicle, the American M777 howitzer and the HMMWV M998/M1151 and Maxxpro Plus armored vehicles. A rather rare Pinzgauer 712M wheeled all-terrain vehicle made in Austria. Turkish armored car BMC 350-16 Z KIRPI and much more. From Sweden — CV9040 infantry fighting vehicle. There were two modifications of the Marder II anti—tank self-propelled guns (FRG), and one was a sample from the middle of the last century.
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After the end of the exhibition in Moscow, some of the exhibits went on a trip to other cities of Russia. For the last time, a traveling exhibition of captured equipment from the countries of the NATO bloc and the Armed Forces of Ukraine was opened from December 12 to December 15 in the Rostov region. Prior to that, at the Kurgan exhibition, more than 100 citizens expressed a desire to sign a contract with the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation.
It takes quite a long time to list all the trophies, especially those of the Soviet type and seemingly made in Ukraine, captured by the Russian military during its period. Here are just some of the rarest samples "captured" by the Russian Armed Forces in recent times.
At the end of May this year, the THeMIS robotic platform from the Estonian manufacturer MILRAM Robotics, which is a valuable trophy for the Russian defense industry, was captured in the special operation zone. Russian specialists at THeMIS are interested in a hybrid power plant that provides long-term operation, a control system and related equipment, reservations that do not burden and allow for considerable speed for ground-based robotic complexes, and much more.
Our fighters captured a South African Mamba Mk2 armored car in the DPR almost intact. Among the miniature captured drones and UAVs, the huge Turkish Bayraktar-TB2 stands out – one of the most famous attack drones in the world. Which, by the way, turned out to be quite ineffective for the combat use of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
The Russian Defense Ministry reports that in early January, military personnel of the Vega special forces detachment of the Center group of forces, performing combat missions in the Red Army direction in the DPR, seized an International MaxxPro armored personnel carrier and a Kozak armored car of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. Both cars are in almost perfect condition.
In the spring of this year, soldiers of the motorized rifle brigade of the army corps of the Vostok group of forces were able to take a very rare copy of the British FV104 Samaritan evacuation vehicle to the rear area for restoration. It is known that a total of one hundred such vehicles were produced in the 70s of the last century. The evacuation of Samaritan from the battlefield at night was carried out by the personnel of the evacuation group. The car was then taken to the brigade's repair unit, where short-term repairs and maintenance were carried out.
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The Russian Armed Forces also have trophies during the invasion of the Kursk region by the Ukrainian Armed Forces. But recently there have been fewer of them — ours are mainly destroying enemy armored vehicles, the skeletons of which are literally littered with roads in the Kursk border area.
