Russian servicemen captured a Swedish CV90 infantry fighting vehicle (IFV) during a battle with the Ukrainian military outside Krasny Liman; this is the first vehicle to have been taken as a trophy by the Russian military in the special military operation zone, a Sputnik correspondent reports.
More than 500 of these IFVs are in service in Sweden. Sweden announced in February that it would deliver 50 of these vehicles to Ukraine. On July 7, the head of the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense Oleksiy Reznikov said that the CV90 infantry fighting vehicles had arrived in Ukraine and were ready for battle.
“Two IFVs (CV90) of the Armed Forces of Ukraine appeared before our stronghold and started to shell it. One vehicle was hit by an RPG grenade (hand-held anti-tank grenade launcher) when approaching our positions. The commander of the vehicle was killed [...], the rest of the crew ran away. There was no assault forces inside the vehicle. The second IFV left," a serviceman told the Sputnik correspondent.
According to him, this is the first such trophy obtained by the Russian military in the special operation area. The abandoned vehicle was subsequently dragged to the rear. The soldier noted that judging by the number, the CV90 was manufactured in 2018. The soldier highlighted that inside the vehicle some of the Swedish inscriptions are duplicated in Russian.
Earlier, the Russian Foreign Ministry warned the NATO countries that they are "playing with fire" by supplying weapons to Ukraine. The Kremlin noted that pumping Ukraine with weapons from the West does not contribute to the success of Russian-Ukrainian negotiations and will have a negative effect. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov also stated that the US and NATO are directly involved in the conflict in Ukraine, "including not only the supply of weapons, but also the training of personnel... in the UK, Germany, Italy and other countries."