On Sunday, August 7, the Russian Ministry of Defense (MoD) shared video of a handful of weapons allegedly seized by Ukrainian forces. In the 2 minute 15 second video, Russian soldiers are seen holding and talking about the weapons, which included a Javelin portable anti-tank Officials said the small arms on display came from what Russian officials called a “special military operation.” A Russian soldier holding a Javelin anti-tank launcher. The mission was shared on Telegram. Russian Ministry of Defense/ Telegram The Russian Foreign Ministry said in the Telegram post: “Among the trophies, the weapons are mainly of foreign manufacture. Hand-held anti-tank grenade launchers manufactured in Great Britain, USA, Poland, Sweden, including Javelin and Carl Gustaf missile systems, as well as heavy machine guns and Soviet-made small arms abandoned by Ukrainian nationalists. “The soldiers of the reconnaissance unit also spoke about the conditions of the seizure of weapons during reconnaissance and search operations.” Russia’s weapons display seems to pale in comparison to the tanks and other equipment seized by Ukrainian soldiers. Since the war broke out, Russia has reportedly lost about 5,000 military vehicles in Ukraine, according to an analysis by Oryx, an open-source website that tracks military equipment. Russia has also said it destroyed a number of US-supplied M142 High Mobility Artillery Missile Systems (HIMARS), although Western countries have disputed the claims. The soldiers in the video also reinforced the Russian narrative that the war was fought to fight alleged Nazi control of Ukraine, a claim that has been rejected by Kyiv. According to Russian state media Tass, one of the soldiers in the video added: “We found this machine gun on the edges of the edge, it was fully equipped, three full boxes of 12.7 cartridges. “One of the boxes had a skull and swastika painted on it.” At the outbreak of the war, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov claimed that the purpose of the conflict was to “repaint” the country. The apparent justification has been widely rejected by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky as well as Western leaders. Newsweek has reached out to the office of the President of Ukraine and the Kremlin for comment. The video comes as Russia faces “increasing difficulties” in carrying out its invasion of Ukraine, according to Dan Rice, a special adviser to the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Valeriy Zaluzzhnyi. After failing to capture the Ukrainian capital of Kiev, the Russian military has turned its efforts to securing the separatist region of Donbas, an area with a large number of Russian speakers. Rice praised Ukraine for doing an “excellent job” defending the country from Russian forces and accused the invading forces of using a top-down Soviet model of leadership.
