Russian forces have captured their first Swedish-made CV90 infantry fighting vehicle on the Ukrainian battlefield. The RIA Novosti news agency published images of the seized material on Sunday.

Photos of Russian troops posing in front of the CV90 appeared on social media on Saturday. According to the Readovka outlet, he was captured during the fighting in the Lugansk region.

The Swedish infantry fighting vehicle was hit with a portable rocket launcher. The commander was killed in the blast, while the rest of the Ukrainian troops got out and fled, RIA Novosti reported.

Images released by the agency showed a hole in the CV90’s armor made by the rocket. It also showed the interior of the vehicle, where many of the signs were translated from English into Russian so that the Ukrainians could understand them.

The CV-90 is a family of combat vehicles in service with the Swedish Army since 1993. They are equipped with a 40mm gun and have armor capable of withstanding 30mm shells.

Sweden, which aims to become a NATO member, said it had plans to supply CV-90s to Ukraine in January. In early July, Ukrainian Defense Minister Aleksey Reznikov announced that the vehicles had arrived. According to the Oryx tracking website, kyiv has received a total of 50 CV-90s.

Images purporting to show the moment the Swedish vehicle is hit by a rocket have also been uploaded online.

During the conflict, Russian forces have captured several pieces of Western-supplied material, some of which have been displayed in the Patriot Park in the Moscow region. Trophies collected in recent weeks also include a US-made Bradley fighting vehicle and a French AMX-10 wheeled tank.

Russia has long condemned the supply of foreign weapons to Ukraine, arguing that it will only prolong the fighting but not prevent it from achieving the goals of its military operation. According to Moscow, the aid provided to Kyiv by the United States, the European Union and some other nations already makes Western countries de facto parties to the conflict.

wn.com