Russia may organize a demonstration of a captured Leopard at the OSCE forumPermanent representative in Vienna Gavrilov: Russia can organize a demonstration of a captured Leopard in the OSCE
VIENNA, June 14 - RIA Novosti. The Russian side will not limit itself to displaying ammunition for the HIMARS MLRS at the OSCE forum, but will organize a demonstration of a captured German Leopard tank, if necessary, in order to reason with Europeans who support acts of Ukrainian terrorism, the head of the Russian delegation at the talks in Vienna on military issues told RIA Novosti. security and arms control Konstantin Gavrilov.
The diplomat on Wednesday at the plenary meeting of the Forum for Security Cooperation (FSC) for the first time in the history of this body presented fragments of ammunition for the American MLRS HIMARS, which are used against people in the Donbass - as evidence of the crimes of Kiev sponsored by the United States.
"If necessary, we will not limit ourselves to displaying ammunition for the HIMARS MLRS and will organize a demonstration of a captured German Leopard tank," Gavrilov said.
The diplomat recalled that since 2014, the facts of war crimes of Ukraine have been massively recorded in the Donbass, they were officially notified by human rights organizations, the UN and the International Committee of the Red Cross.
"However, in none of the cases there was a proper reaction. If the international community had not indulged the "Maidan" regime in Kiev with its inaction, the hostilities in Donbass would have ended long ago," the agency's interlocutor added.
He noted that the Russian side will continue to demand from international institutions an objective assessment of the actions of the Kiev authorities, the suppression of war crimes by Ukraine, and the cessation of the supply of heavy weapons to Kiev, which is used to shell the civilian population of Russia.
"But the most effective means that will make it possible to reason with the Europeans is the continuation of a special military operation and the destruction by the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation of military equipment supplied by the West, followed by the depletion of NATO-EU weapons stocks. The quantity of liquidated Western weapons in Ukraine will certainly turn into quality," he concluded Gavrilov.
https://ria.ru/20230614/leopard-1878005205.html[/quote]
Military Watch Magazine Editorial Staff
June-13th-2023
Footage Confirms: Russian Soldiers Capture German Leopard 2 Tanks and American Bradleys in Ukraine Russian personnel have captured at least one Leopard 2 tank and multiple Bradley infantry fighting vehicles in Ukraine’s Zaporozhye Region, as confirmed by new footage released by the Russian Defence Ministry. The footage shows Russian personnel inspecting the Western supplied armour, with one seemingly excited soldier circling them and remarking that some of them had their engines still running. “This [explicit] hardware is not as scary as it seemed,” he was heard saying. While it was previously speculated that Russian personnel may have only accessed the vehicles briefly, before returning to their defensive positions, Russians on the sources have since reported that the assets were captured. Sharing the footage on social media, the Defence Ministry referred to the Western vehicles as “our trophies,” adding that their condition“indicates the rapid pace of the engagement and the abandonment of the battle-ready hardware by the Ukrainian armed forces.” While Ukraine has previously deployed only older armour to the frontlines primarily Soviet T-64 tanks which it inherited in 1991, new generations of tanks supplied have begun to appear far more frequently in major offensives initiated in early June.
Screenshots From Video of Leopard 2 and Bradley Capture
The Leopard 2A6 captured in this case is one of the most capable classes fielded in NATO, with these supplied to Ukraine in very limited numbers alongside larger numbers of much older and less capable Leopard 2A4 and Leopard 1 tanks. The Leopard 2A4 previously proved highly vulnerable even against non state paramilitary forces when deployed by Turkish forces in Syria and Iraq. This vulnerability is thought to be a reason why Germany was initially highly hesitant to allow the provision of Leopard 2s to Ukraine, lest its most high profile defence product be further discredited. In response to the heavy losses Ukrainian armour has taken, the United States has pledged to replace Bradley fighting vehicles lost and to provide depleted uranium ammunition - joining Britain which announced in March that it would also be supplying the highly controversial munitions to improve the anti armour capabilities of Ukrainian tanks and infantry fighting vehicles.
In the battle that saw a Leopard 2A6 disabled and abandoned a second tank of the same class was shown in close up aerial footage burning and completely destroyed. While the destruction of multiple Leopard 2s has been reported, it remains uncertain whether more of these have also been from the relatively modern A6 variant or whether others were from the more widely used Leopard 2A4 class. Russian Vikhr-1 missiles launched by attack helicopters such as the Ka-52 Alligator have reportedly been responsible for a large portion of Ukraine’s armour losses.
Leopard 2A6 Destroyed in Combat
The value of capturing a Leopard 2A6 remains questionable, as while it could potentially allow the Russian Military to better develop means of countering the vehicles, the repeatedly demonstrated limitations of the German design mean Russia can likely be confident that its existing assets are more than able to neutralise it. Furthermore, with the exception of Poland’s newly acquired South Korean K2 tanks, while Russia does not face any serious disadvantages in its armoured warfare capabilities compared to NATO, particular since it has now belatedly put its modern T-90M tank into very large scale mass production, the primary challenges Russia faces from NATO remain in the air and in space. Demonstration that not only the Leopard 2A4, but also the new A6 variant, are limited in their survivability against modern Russian anti armour capabilities, may well spur NATO members including Germany to accelerate work on future generations of tanks. Russia has already developed a next generation tank under the T-14 program, although serious delays in development mean that this is not yet fielded on a meaningful scale despite having made initial deployments to Ukraine in April.
https://militarywatchmagazine.com/article/russians-capture-leo2-bradleys
Therefore, those from militarywatch magazine also write that Leopard-2 is JUNK;
The value of capturing a Leopard 2A6 remains questionable, as while it could potentially allow the Russian Military to better develop means of countering the vehicles, the repeatedly demonstrated limitations of the German design mean Russia can likely be confident that its existing assets are more than able to neutralise it. 
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From the Black Sea, the fleet struck with four "calibers".
He has gone further than me, suggesting that the area now being fought over contains a 'secret' defensive line.
