Since the Russia-Ukraine war, Western countries' military aid to Ukraine has gone through different stages.
At first, it was Western-style light weapons and Soviet-made heavy weapons that came to aid Ukraine, and later Western-style artillery support and long-range ammunition were released, and then there were all kinds of Western-style infantry vehicles, but mainly old, old, and miscellaneous equipment.
By the beginning of 2023, in order to increase the "big counteroffensive" of the Ukrainian army, many Western countries will, in principle, come up with a batch of serious Western-style ground equipment for military aid.
We have talked about this topic many times, so I won't repeat it, but the final result is:
The U.S. provided 31 M1A1 tanks, plus 109 M2A2 infantry vehicles (additional to follow) and 90 Stryker armored vehicles (additional to follow), the United Kingdom provided 14 Challenger 2 main battle tanks, and France provided about 40 AMX-10RC armored reconnaissance vehicles (for wheeled tanks).
In addition, Western countries, mainly Europe, have also made up 21 Leopard 2A6 tanks, 10 Strv-122 (Leopard 2A5 modification) tanks, 50-60 Leopard 2A4 tanks, and hundreds of Leopard 1A5 tanks (due to their poor condition, they have not yet participated in the war in large numbers); in addition, weasel infantry vehicles, CV90 infantry vehicles, M113 series armored vehicles, and XA-180 armored vehicles have also been given a lot (note: there are also a considerable number of Soviet-made heavy weapons).
As for all kinds of light wheeled vehicles, there were more, in fact, they accounted for the main body of Western military aid at that time.
In addition, in terms of artillery, basically well-known artillery models from Western countries, and even high-end goods, are also available on the battlefield in Ukraine, mainly because of quantity.
Therefore, on the basis of the above-mentioned equipment lineup, plus a batch of old-fashioned Soviet-based equipment that was overturned by itself, the Ukrainian army finally made up a lineup of 10 NATO-based brigades (mainly Soviet-based equipment of the 116th-118th brigades);
Before the Ukrainian army's major counteroffensive, these "made in all countries" NATO troops were pinned on high hopes, believing that they were the key main forces of the Ukrainian army to penetrate Zaporozhye and cut off the land bridge.
However, in the follow-up process, we also know that the above-mentioned equipment and the so-called NATO training did not allow the Ukrainian army to break through the defense line of the Russian army, but suffered a lot of losses in the process of counteroffensive.
In particular, the successive "tragic deaths" of some well-known Western-style heavy equipment, such as the Leopard 2A6 tank, led to the shattering of a series of myths that were concocted before the great counteroffensive, which seriously hurt the minds and spirits of Western enthusiasts.
Later, after the attack and defense of Russia and Ukraine changed hands, the Russian army successively controlled the position, and then it could clean up the battlefield, and a series of Western-style equipment could be captured.
However, compared to the light vehicles and old tracked equipment, the capture of high-grade cargo is not easy.
The first high-class cargo captured by the Russian army was the CV90 infantry tank, and then the M2A2 infantry tank was towed back in the Avadiivka theater of operations.
Recently, the Russian army successfully dragged back the Leopard 2A6 tank from the Avadiivka battlefield, and after simple repairs, it was pulled directly to Victory Park on Bow Hill in Moscow.
According to the release of the Russian Ministry of Defense, a month-long special exhibition will be held here from May 1, when more than 30 exhibits from 12 countries, including the United States and Germany, will be displayed.
In addition to the aforementioned CV90 infantry and M2A2 infantry vehicles, of course, the most important is the just-captured Leopard 2A6, in addition to the weasel infantry vehicle, XA-180 armored vehicle, M777 howitzer, and many models of light wheeled vehicles.
The tanks and armored vehicles equipped by the Ukrainian army themselves were also brought here for display, including such "unique products" as the Azov heavy infantry combat vehicle.
Because a lot of captured equipment has now been put in place, and a large number of on-site photos and videos have been flying all over the sky, it is easy for everyone to see the famous scene of the "NATO Equipment Corps" setting foot in Moscow.
Recently, on the Avadiivka front, the Russian army towed away the M1A1 tank, the M1150 assault obstacle breaking vehicle, and the M88A2 armored repair vehicle.
So far, among the well-known tanks supported by the West, except for the Challenger 2, which has not been surrendered, the others have basically come (note: the Leopard 2 has only captured the A6 version, and the others have not been able to pull it back);
However, the Challenger 2 given by the British was so bad that some time ago, when British reporters went to interview, only half of the company was left with combat capability.
In terms of infantry vehicles, well-known infantry fighting vehicles and armored vehicles are basically in place, and only the Stryk armored vehicle is missing; this thing only appeared on the Kuban battlefield and has not yet been towed back.
As for artillery, we can see that there are M777s, but other tracked self-propelled guns and vehicle-mounted guns mostly provide fire support behind the battle line, and the Russian army has destroyed a lot, but there are almost no captures.
Therefore, the main body of this exhibition is tanks and infantry vehicles, and when the official opening comes, the scene is expected to be even more spectacular.