Pro-Ukrainian fighters appeared to use at least three American-made armored vehicles during an incursion into Russia on Monday, photos and videos verified by The New York Times show.
Russian forces appear to have captured at least two of these vehicles, according to additional visual evidence. It is unclear how the pro-Ukrainian units behind the incursion, which consist mostly of anti-Putin Russians, came to own the vehicles – generally known as MRAPs, for Mine-Resistant Ambush Protected. The circumstances that led the Russians to capture them are also unknown, but pro-Russian Telegram groups began posting photos of the equipment on Monday evening, hours after the incursion began.
The Times identified the vehicles by their markings when they were inside Ukraine and again after they fell into the hands of Russian forces.
The MRAPs were first built for US forces in Iraq and Afghanistan, and the United States supplied several hundred of them to the Ukrainian army. The specific model appears to be International MaxxPros. They have been seen in videos from various front lines across the country.
While many countries have purchased and used the vehicles, the United States is the only country known to have specifically sent them to Ukraine.
In one of the published photos of a seized MRAP, a Russian soldier stands next to a vehicle with distinct white spray-painted markings – an arrow pointing up. A vehicle with this exact marking was seen in video footage of the attacking forces about eight kilometers from the border just hours before their incursion into Russia.
A photo of another vehicle apparently seized by Russia, first posted online in the past 24 hours, showed details – more white markings – that were on many other vehicles that appeared in the posted images of the attack in Russia.
A third MaxxPro with similar markings appears in a short video showing a pro-Ukrainian soldier in the village of Glotovo, about three kilometers into Russian territory.
A US official said the government had seen reports on social media that the vehicles had been used in the incursion and were continuing to review them to determine if they were accurate.
“I will say that we are skeptical at this time about the veracity of these reports,” said Matthew Miller, a State Department spokesman. He reiterated that the United States had not “encouraged or permitted strikes inside Russia, and we have made that clear.”
“But as we also said,” he added, “it’s up to Ukraine to decide how to fight this war.”
The use of US military equipment on Russian soil could strain relations between Ukraine and the United States, which has provided Ukraine with tens of billions of dollars in military aid, one of the conditions being that they are not used to attack Russia within its own borders. .
Photos and videos showed dozens of pro-Ukrainian fighters using their convoy vehicles as they crossed the Russian border into the village of Kozinka on Monday morning. The involvement of the Ukrainian military in the operation is unclear.
Although there have been attacks over this border during the 15-month war, Monday’s assault was unique in its brazenness and duration. The two units that have claimed responsibility for the incursion are the Free Russian Legion and the Russian Volunteer Corps, which are made up of Russian nationals who fought in Ukraine against the Russian army.
Russia chose members of the assault force as Ukrainian militants and saboteurs; Ukrainian Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Maliar called them “Russian patriots” participating in an “internal Russian crisis”.
The Free Russian Legion is part of a unit overseen by Ukrainian officers, but Mykhailo Podolyak, a presidential adviser, said Ukraine has nothing to do with the incursion.
The assault on Russia extended into its second day. On Tuesday afternoon, Russia’s Defense Ministry said it had pushed the fighters back across the border, but people claiming to represent the groups said they were continuing their attacks in Russia.
The incursion came days after the announcement on Friday that the President Biden agreed to allow Ukrainian troops to train on F-16 fighter jets and was open to other countries supplying them to Ukraine, a reversal after a year of refusing Ukrainian requests for the plane over fears it could be used to strike targets in Russia and potentially escalate the conflict.
Christoph Koettl, Dimitri Khavin And Julian Barnes contributed report.