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Russian military engineers have recovered several Western-made vehicles, including two Abrams main battle tanks and a Challenger recovery vehicle, which were abandoned by Kiev forces after being damaged in the Sumy direction, the country’s Ministry of Defense announced on June 5.
The ministry said that a total of two M1A1 SA Abrams, two International MaxxPro mine-resistant ambush-protected vehicles, one M1126 Stryker armored fighting vehicle, all made by the United States, in addition to a British-made Challenger Armoured Repair and Recovery Vehicle (CRARRV) were recovered.
Footage released by the ministry showed one of the Abrams tanks being towed by Russian military engineers. The tank appeared to be heavily damaged.
Ukraine received 31 Abrams along with a number of M1150 Assault Breacher Vehicles (ABV), which are based on the tank, from the U.S. over the last two years. Nearly all of the vehicles have reportedly been destroyed, damaged or captured by the Russian military.
Around the same time, the United Kingdom supplied two CRARRVS to Kiev forces, along with 14 Challenger 2 tanks. These vehicles met the same fate as the Abrams and ABVs.
In addition, Kiev forces received at least 462 MaxxPro vehicles from the U.S. and Albania, with over half of them already destroyed, damaged or captured. Some 400 Strykers, including 20 M1132 engineer squad vehicles, were also donated by the U.S. to Ukraine. Again, a large chunk of these vehicles were wiped out by the Russian military.
Kiev forces first used their Western-made vehicles in their ill-fated 2023 spring counteroffensive. The very next year, these vehicles led the Ukrainian infiltration into the Russian region of Kursk, which also turned out to be a complete failure. The survivability of these weapons has been proven no better than Soviet-made vehicles.
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