Downtown Kyiv turned into open-air museum of burned-out and captured Russian tanks

20 August 2022, 20:02 | Updated: 21 August 2022, 00:01

Downtown Kyiv has been turned into an open-air museum of burned-out and captured Russian tanks ahead of Ukraine's independence day.

Dozens of military vehicles lined the streets in the city centre on Saturday, with locals stopping by to catch a glimpse.

The rusty weapons - seen on Khreshchatyk Street - served as a reminder of Russia's failure to capture Kyiv.

Ukraine's minister of defence, Oleksii Reznikov, said: "About 80 units of destroyed Russian equipment delivered from different regions of Ukraine were exhibited in Khreshchatyk, where the enemy tried and still tries to carry out their criminal intentions."

He compared the mock parade to a victory parade Putin was believed to have planned at the start of the conflict.

"After 6 months of a full-scale invasion of Russia, thanks to the courage and heroism of our defenders and defenders, the resilience of the entire Ukrainian people, the Russians received the dream 'parade'," Mr Reznikov said.

"But, as they say, there is a nuance."

The minister added: "The purpose of this exhibition is to clearly demonstrate what avalanche of iron that carries death, stopped Ukrainians. Remind everyone the war is on. That our warriors need support.

"We must stand united and be ready to beat the enemy."

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An intelligence report from the UK's Ministry of Defence previously said Moscow had lost a large number of battle tanks because they were not equipped with explosive reactive armour technology (ERA).

"Used correctly, ERA degrades the effectiveness of incoming projectiles before they hit the tank," it said. 

"This suggests that Russian forces have not rectified a culture of poor ERA use, which dates back to the First Chechen War in 1994."

The report added: "It is highly likely that many Russian tank crews lack the training to maintain ERA, leading to either poor fitting of the explosive elements, or it being left off entirely."

Recent data from Ukraine's military suggests their troops have killed more than 44,000 Russian soldiers and destroyed some 1,800 tanks. 

Other sources such as Oryx - a military blog that has tracked Russian losses since the start of the war - put Moscow's equipment losses higher.

It comes as Russia's defence ministry has claimed troops were poisoned in the Russian-controlled part of Ukraine's southeastern region of Zaporizhzhia in late July.

It said a number of Russian servicemen had been taken to a military hospital with signs of serious poisoning on July 31, according to Reuters.

Tests showed a toxic substance - botulinum toxin type B - in their bodies, the ministry said.

However, an adviser to Ukraine's interior ministry said that the alleged poisoning could instead have been a result of Russian forces eating expired canned meat.