Exhibition of destroyed Russian equipment
The Destroyed Russian Military Equipment Exhibition is an open-air exhibition on Mykhailivska Square in Kyiv, featuring Russian military equipment that was captured and destroyed during the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February-March 2022. The exhibition is open on May 21, 2022.
The exhibition was organized by the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine. Among the exhibits are the self-propelled anti-aircraft artillery installation “Pancyr-C1”, the T-72B3 tank, the BMD-2 infantry fighting machine, the BMD-4 turret, the radio-electronic warfare machine and the remnants of the BMP “Tiger”. Most of this equipment was used by the enemy and destroyed by Ukrainian defenders during the Northern Offensive Operation.
President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky showed the exhibition to the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Boris Johnson during his last visit to Ukraine on June 17, 2022, and to Rishi Sunaku during his visit on November 19, 2022.
The exhibition also visited Warsaw — the capital of Poland — opened on June 27, 2022, in Prague — the capital of the Czech Republic — opening on July 11, 2022.
In Berlin, the capital of Germany, the exhibition was banned by the local authorities. However, two German social activists Enno Lenze and Wiland Giebel from the Berlin Story Bunker Museum brought a battered Russian T-72 tank from Ukraine and installed it in Berlin opposite the Russian embassy building in protest against Russian aggression exactly in the first years of the beginning of the full-scale Russian invasion in Ukraine — February 24, 2023.
The exposed Russian tank was destroyed by an anti-tank mine in the first month of the war, on March 31, 2022, in the Battle of Kiev near the village of Dmytrivka, in the western suburbs of the Ukrainian capital near the cities of Bucha and Irpin, where decisive fighting took place.
Also before the first anniversary of the beginning of Russia's full-scale war against Ukraine, exhibitions of destroyed Russian tanks were held in Vilnius, Riga and Tallinn — the capitals of Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia.
On August 23, 2022, the Minister of Internal Affairs of Ukraine Denis Monastyrsky together with his deputies visited the exhibition of destroyed Russian military equipment in Khreshchatyk.
Since after the “capture of Kiev in three days” the Russian occupiers planned to hold a military parade on Khreshchatyk, the Ukrainians provided them with such an opportunity. True, in the form of destroyed equipment, what remained after the meeting with the Ukrainian defenders.
“I came with my team to be inspired by what I saw, namely the work of our Armed Forces, our guards, our border guards, our policemen. All those who bring our victory closer. I have already seen it in the Kiev region — in Gostomel, Bucha, Irpen, but to see this technique here, which was called the parade of orcs and zombies, is different. This is very impressive,” the head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs shared.
“I did not expect such an effect that would resonate in the hearts. What people really understood about the idea of the exhibition is that you dream carefully. That is, Putin wanted to hold a parade in Kiev — please, but only in this form, otherwise it will not be. Will there be, but only in a larger number of burned equipment,” added Denis Monastyrsky.
