Dozens of captured Western war machines will be showcased at the Russian capital’s Victory Park
Moscow is finalizing preparations for the upcoming Victory Day celebrations with multiple pieces of military equipment, donated to Ukraine by the US and its NATO allies and captured by Russian forces on the battlefield, being towed for a grand display set to officially open next week.
A German-made Leopard 2 tank has found its resting place at the Victory Park, home to museums of the victories in 1812 and 1945, according to videos circulating on social media on Saturday. The armor was captured relatively undamaged near Avdeevka last month, but the Russian troops had to blow off its tracks with explosives to tow it away from the battlefield. It was then patched up and brought to Moscow for the display.
Another piece brought to the Victory Park on Saturday was a Soviet-designed T-72 main battle tank. Ukraine lost hundreds of these tanks during the ongoing conflict with Russia, and its Western sponsors have “lost track” of how many more they donated to replace Kiev’s battlefield losses.
Over the past week, the disabled Western armored fist in Moscow was reinforced by a US-made M113 armored personnel carrier and a Bradley Infantry Fighting Vehicle (IFV), as well as a German-made Marder 1A3 IFV. Other trophies include YPR-765, a Dutch modification of M113, and a Turkish Kirpi MRAP.
An ingenious Ukrainian-made ‘Azovets’ armored vehicle also made its way to the complex. Engineers sympathetic to the neo-Nazi Azov regiment created it in 2015 by converting a Soviet-era T-64 tank, but it mysteriously vanished from the factory and was never seen on the battlefield. The Russian forces eventually found it buried at the battalion’s base near Mariupol.
Overall, some 30 armored pieces from 12 countries will be on display when the exhibit officially opens on May 1, including weaponry produced or supplied by the US, the UK, Germany, France, Czech Republic, Sweden, Austria and Australia.
The trophies will be on display for the entire next month, as the country marks the Victory Day on May 9, the annual celebration of the triumph over Nazi Germany. After that, some of the showpieceы will presumably end up at the Kubinka tank museum located at Patriot Park outside Moscow.
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