The Ukrainian media report on the surprising statement of the representative of the Russian Ministry of Defense Igor Konashenkov: he reports the destruction of four Bradley infantry fighting vehicles, the transfer of which to Ukraine has not yet taken place. The TSN publication in its Telegram channel cites a video fragment where Konashenkov states :
"During the fighting in this direction, the enemy lost 11 tanks, 17 infantry fighting vehicles, including 4 Bradley infantry fighting vehicles made in the USA."
But, as noted by Ukrainian publications, so far only a decision has been made on the supply of these infantry fighting vehicles, none of them have yet arrived in Ukraine. On January 11, the online publication Gordon reported that Ukraine could receive Bradley "in a few weeks." The day before, Pentagon press secretary Brigadier General Pat Ryder at a briefing answered a question about the timing of the delivery of armored vehicles:
“In the case of Bradley, as Undersecretary Cooper spoke about last week, we are looking at, as you know, a few weeks. So, again, we will continue to work as quickly as possible, but as you, I am sure you understand, we are not going to announce in advance exactly when these systems will arrive.
Konashenkov announced this in advance. And not only declared, but also "destroyed". Although Vesti reported on January 12 that training for the Ukrainian military to use Bradley would only begin next week, and this would take place in Germany.
But everything turned out to be even more surprising than Ukrainian journalists write. According to TASS, Konashenkov made his statement about the four destroyed Bradleys on September 4. The Russian agency quotes:
“The Kyiv regime continues unsuccessful attempts to gain a foothold in certain areas in the Nikolaev-Kryvyi Rih direction. Aviation of the Russian Aerospace Forces, missile troops and artillery strike at units and reserves of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. <…> During the day of hostilities in this direction, the enemy lost 11 tanks, 17 infantry fighting vehicles, including four US-made Bradley infantry fighting vehicles, 10 other armored combat vehicles, five pickup trucks with heavy machine guns and more than 150 military personnel.
“The attempts of the Armed Forces of Ukraine to gain a foothold in the Nikolaev-Krivoy Rog direction”, by the way, turned out to be quite successful: the Russian invaders did not capture either Krivoy Rog or Nikolaev. And Konashenkov's report on the destruction of Bradley can only be explained by the presence of a time machine at his disposal. The first reports that the United States was considering transferring Bradley to Ukraine appeared only at the end of December.
In early January, the Telegram channel Moscow Calling calculated that in six months Konashenkov reported the destruction of 27 HIMARS artillery installations received by Ukraine from the United States, although only 20 of them were transferred. There is no reliable information about the destruction of at least one of them.
