A video posted on social media by the Ukrainian military shows that a Russian soldier who boasted of capturing a Bradley fighting vehicle last month in a defiant message to President Volodymyr Zelensky has been captured.

“Congratulations to Mr. Zelensky. Thank you for this wonderful car. We will call one [blindat] MTLB and we will tow this shit,” says one of the Russian soldiers, who appeared in the video next to Bradley, an American who also claimed to be part of the Russian Kertsi army.

The second part of the recording shows that he was captured by the Ukrainians, and here he behaves much more modestly.

“Guys, I’m 19 years old,” he tells the kidnappers. “Keep calm, don’t let anyone touch you,” replied the Ukrainian military.

The first part of the footage, which shows Russian soldiers next to a US Bradley fighting vehicle, is part of footage that Russian soldiers shared on social media last month around July 12. At that time, the Moscow military mentioned the capture of the “Bradley” received by the Ukrainians from the American army during the battles around the village of Robotyne.

But several prominent observers of the war in Ukraine, including the administrators of the Ukraine Weapons Tracker page, disputed their claims at the time, pointing out that in order to be considered captured, a combat vehicle must also be towed to its position. .

Russian soldiers boasted about “Bradley”, which they did not really admire

That is, the Russian military was suspected of only taking pictures and filming themselves with the Bradley armored car, but did not have the means to drive it to their positions. However, they did take a few shots of themselves with the American vehicle and also showed off the “goodies” they found inside.

Oryx, an independent website that tracks the casualties of both armies during the war in Ukraine, has not yet confirmed that any Bradley vehicles have been seized by the Russians. However, the Ukrainians lost at least 51 vehicles of this type: 25 destroyed, 21 damaged and 5 abandoned after damage.

The vehicle seen in this footage is believed to be one of those left behind by the Ukrainian military after being damaged during hostilities. The United States has officially announced that it will send about 110 American Bradley vehicles, which means that the Ukrainian loss rate is likely to exceed 50% (Oryx counts only those losses that are confirmed by photos, videos or other open sources).

This Tuesday, after more than a month of fighting, Ukrainian troops managed to liberate the village of Robotyne in the south of the Zaporizhzhia region. It is in the direction of the offensive on the city of Melitopol near the Sea of ​​Azov, which is considered the main target of the offensive launched by Ukraine in June.

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