Russia appeared to flaunt a captured, ‘fully operational’ Bradley infantry fighting vehicle

A damaged Bradley Infantry Fighting Vehicle in a photo shared by a Ukrainian official.

Hanna Maliar/Telegram

Russia claims its forces captured a US-made Bradley infantry fighting vehicle (IFV).The IFV appears to have undergone testing on its armor, Defence Blog reported.Russia has a habit of flaunting captured Ukrainian armor.

Russia has claimed its forces captured a US-made Bradley infantry fighting vehicle (IFV) in Ukraine — and it appears to be preparing to parade it across Russia.

The Russian Embassy in South Africa said on X, formerly Twitter, that the Russian army had captured the “fully operational” vehicle on February 26.

Other photos shared on the platform claim to show the vehicle arriving in Moscow on a train, although it is unclear when or where the pictures were taken.

Business Insider was unable to verify the claims independently.

Military news website Defence Blog suggested that the IFV showed signs of armor testing, saying that the images likely showed the results of strikes from a 30mm 2A42 autocannon with armor-piercing rounds.

The report added that armored tiles, known as Bradley Reactive Armor Tiles, also appeared to have been removed from the sides of the vehicle, possibly for analysis.

Russia also said in December that it had captured a Bradley IFV, Reuters reported.

Footage shown on Russian television claimed to show the vehicle after it had been captured on the front lines in Luhansk, eastern Ukraine, the report said.

Ukrainian soldiers patrol with a Bradley Fighting vehicle in Avdiivka, Ukraine on December 4, 2023.

Anadolu

According to data from the open-source military intelligence site Oryx, 69 Bradley fighting vehicles have been either destroyed, damaged, abandoned, or captured in the conflict so far — over a third of the 186 that have been delivered to Ukraine by the US.

The IFV’s fearsome 25 mm gun and maneuvrability mean many Russian soldiers are afraid of going up against it, a Ukrainian commander told Newsweek, and a video showing one of the IFVs overpowering a Russian T-90M tank would have done little to calm those fears.

A boost for Russian propaganda

This is not the first Western-donated military vehicle Russia has openly flaunted as a trophy, as the propaganda value of parading such vehicles is high.

In one video that was circulating on social media last week, Russian soldiers appeared to conduct field testing on a captured US-made Humvee.

Russian soldiers appeared to be in awe of the strength of the bullet-proof glass.

“Fuck, there’s no way. We’re shooting it with bullets,” one of the soldiers can be heard shouting.

“I found a bullet in the glass, it fell out,” another replies.

But Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said last year that the war in Ukraine had “debunked many myths about the superiority of Western military standards” and noted that Russia had obtained data on Western military systems throughout the conflict.

“We have data on the destruction of German tanks, American armoured vehicles, British missiles and other weapons systems,” he said, per Reuters.

“We are ready to share our assessments with our partners,” he added.

Last week, Russia also claimed it knocked out an M1 Abrams tank near Avdiivka, a first for the US-made armor in service with the Ukrainians.

The US-made M1 Abrams was considered by experts and officials to be the strongest, most durable tank Ukraine had received from the West.