A Russian official on Monday said a U.S.-made M1 Abrams tank that was captured by the Russian military from Ukraine's forces will soon be propped up on display in Moscow.
The Russian Ministry of Defense (MoD) later released a video it said showed the destruction of the Abrams, which Kremlin-controlled media outlet RT referred to as a "trophy tank."
News of the seized Abrams' public exhibition follows a report last week from the Associated Press (AP) that revealed the U.S. is withdrawing its Abrams tanks from Ukraine's front lines after the units proved vulnerable to Russian drone strikes.
The AP noted that five of the 31 American Abrams sent to Ukraine since January 2023 have already been lost in combat. The delivery of those tanks followed months of repeated requests from Kyiv officials.
Alexander Savchuk, spokesperson for Russian military unit "Battlegroup Center," said the tank that will be displayed in Moscow is the first Abrams evacuated from the battlefield in Ukraine by Russia.
"Now the fighters of the Center group have successfully evacuated the tank from the front. Soon everyone will be able to see it at an exhibition on [Moscow's] Poklonnaya Gora," Savchuk told Russian-state news agency RIA Novosti.
RT wrote the Abrams tank will be "displayed at a major trophy show in Moscow, which will also feature dozens of other Western-made heavy vehicles captured during the conflict."
According to RIA Novosti, other "NATO equipment" that will be available for the public to see in the exhibition slated to open on Wednesday includes a German Leopard 2; a German Marder infantry fighting vehicle; a Swedish CV90 infantry fighting vehicle; a French AMX-10RC armored fighting vehicle; and assorted equipment from the United Kingdom, South Africa, Finland, Australia, Austria and Ukraine.
In the black-and-white video that the Russian MoD claims shows the capture of the tank, an anti-tank guided missile can be seen launched at a blurry target. After an explosion, another missile is fired at the target, causing another blast.
According to the MoD, the assault on the tank occurred near the city of Avdiivka in the Donbas region of Moscow. Avdiivka has been the site of fierce fighting for months, and Russia has reportedly made gains in the area in recent days.
In a Sunday evening update, the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) said recent Ukrainian withdrawals on the front line were prompted by "recent Russian gains northwest of Avdiivka." However, the U.S.-based think tank added that the retreats "have yet to facilitate rapid Russian tactical gains. Russian forces remain unlikely to achieve a deeper operationally significant penetration in the area in the near term."
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Jon Jackson is an Associate Editor at Newsweek based in New York. His focus is on reporting on the Ukraine ... Read more
