 |
| Russian army shows off Javelin anti-tank missile launcher captured in war in Ukraine |
Moscow - Russian officials have shown off what they call a "trophy", including US weapons. The weapons were seized by the Moscow military during the war in Ukraine. On Sunday, Russia's Defense Ministry shared video footage of several NATO countries' weapons seized from Ukrainian forces.
In the 2 minute 15 second video, Russian soldiers are seen holding and talking about several weapons, including the Javelin portable anti-tank missile system. Officials said the weapons on display were obtained during what they described as "special military operations".
The Russian Ministry of Defense said in a Telegram post: “Among the trophies, weapons are mostly of foreign manufacture. Hand-held anti-tank grenade launchers made in the UK, USA, Poland, Sweden, including the Javelin and Carl Gustaf missile systems, as well as Soviet-made heavy machine guns and small arms abandoned by Ukrainian nationalists."
Since the war broke out, Russia has reportedly lost about 5,000 military vehicles in Ukraine. This data is according to analysis by Oryx, an open source site that tracks military equipment. On the other hand, Russia says it has destroyed a number of US-supplied M142 or M142 HIMARS High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems, although Western countries have cast doubt on those claims.
The Russian soldiers, in the short video, also reinforce Moscow's narrative that war is being waged against Nazi control of Ukraine, a claim Kiev has denied.
Quoted from TASS.com, one of the soldiers in the video adds: "We found this machine gun on the periphery, it's complete, three boxes full of armor-piercing cartridges 12.7." "A skull and a swastika are painted on one of the boxes," the Russian soldier continued. At the outbreak of war, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov claimed that the purpose of Moscow's military operation was to "de-Nazi-ify" the Ukrainian state.
The video comes as Russia is experiencing "more and more difficulties" in carrying out an invasion of Ukraine, according to Dan Rice, special adviser to the Commander-in-Chief of the Ukrainian Armed Forces Valeriy Zaluzzhnyi.
After failing to capture the Ukrainian capital, Kiev, the Russian military has shifted its efforts to secure the separatist Donbas region, a region with a large number of Russian speakers. Rice praised Ukraine for an "excellent job" in defending the country from Russian forces and criticized the invading forces for using the Soviet model of top-down leadership.