The Russian defense and industrial conglomerate Rostec has claimed that the Russian troops have eliminated all the US Bradley Infantry Fighting Vehicles (IFVs) in Ukraine’s arsenal, while also mocking British Challenger-2 and German Leopard-2 Main Battle Tanks (MBTs) deployed in combat by Ukraine.
Speaking in an interview with the Razvedchik (Scout) journal, Rostec CEO Sergey Chemezov claimed that the Bradley IFVs were destroyed in Ukraine, without providing the exact number of vehicles destroyed. This was reported by the state news agency TASS.
Chemezov said: “Bradley IFVs have one serious weakness: problems with their cross-country capability, due to which they cannot move normally on rough terrain and through fields. They get stuck in dense soil and become an easy target due to their huge dimensions. What’s the use of improved protection if the result is the same? Practically, all the Bradleys supplied to Ukraine have been destroyed now. You have to understand, after all that, an IFV is not a tank.”
He further emphasized that a combat infantry vehicle should be swift, mobile, and capable of moving through both rugged terrain and rivers that are unbridged and unpaved. “Our IFVs are capable of this, whereas American vehicles are not,” the Rostec chief stressed.
This is not the first time that the state conglomerate has compared Bradley with a Russian analog. Russian engineers called it inferior to the Russian BMP-3 in 2023.
At the time, the Deputy Executive Director for state defense procurement and military-technical cooperation, Roman Khromov, was quoted as saying: “A full-scale study of samples captured in the Northern Military District confirmed that the American Bradley BMP is not an analog of the Russian BMP-3. The study of trophies confirms that the BMP-3 is superior in its characteristics, firepower, mobility, ease of operation, maintenance, and repair to the American infantry fighting vehicles.”
Rostec’s claims about wiping out the entire fleet cannot be independently verified due to the paucity of information about the exact number of Bradley IFVs delivered to Ukraine (estimated to be 300 by unverified sources). These claims are likely to be dismissed by Western experts as exaggerations intended to further Russian propaganda.
According to Oryx, a Dutch open-source intelligence blog that tracks equipment losses in the Ukraine War, the Ukrainian Armed Forces lost 177 M2A2 Bradley ODS-SA, many of which have also been captured by the Russian forces. These figures are based on visual confirmation, and the actual number of losses could be higher.
These vehicles have been used extensively in combat against Russian forces, particularly by Ukraine’s 47th Mechanized Brigade. The Bradleys were earlier believed to be effective due to their advanced optics, 25mm chain gun, and TOW missile systems, offering superior mobility and firepower compared to older Soviet-era equipment. However, Russia managed to annihilate these vehicles in cold blood on multiple occasions.
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The Bradley was hyped as a game-changer, but it couldn’t overcome Russia’s fortified lines without sufficient support. Additionally, inadequate training and improper battlefield tactics made the vehicles more vulnerable than they were.
The Ukrainian Army lost several Bradley IFVs in the initial days of a counteroffensive launched against Russia in the summer of 2023. The debacle of the Bradley IFVs was attributed to the complexity of the operation, as well as poor planning and a lack of air support.
The counteroffensive involved a very treacherous and intricate military maneuver known as a breaching operation. Compounding the existing challenges, these breaching operations were carried out without air support and with inefficient suppressive artillery fire, as previously explained in-depth by the EurAsian Times.
The Bradley IFVs, much like the Russian combat vehicles, were also rendered vulnerable to anti-tank weapons and drones in high-intensity fighting in Avdiivka and Kursk.
Manufactured by BAE Systems, the M2A4 Bradley Fighting Vehicle is a medium armored vehicle designed to provide protected transport for infantry squads entering battle against the enemy. Despite the losses, the US-supplied vehicles have helped preserve the lives of the Ukrainian crew inside them.
While the purported ‘combat failure’ of Bradley is disputed due to a diverse set of factors that led to their debacle, the Russians pride themselves on obliterating one of the most cherished combat vehicles that aided several US combat victories in the Gulf War and the US invasion of Iraq.
The Russian claims are not just limited to these vehicles; the Rostec chief also discussed both the Leopard-2 and the British Challenger.
Challenger Is A Cooking Pot
Taking a dig at the British Challenger-2 MBT, handed over to Ukraine in March 2023, Rostec CEO Sergey Chemezov said that the tank was a “cooking pot unready for real combat.”
The remark is intriguing, particularly since there are confirmed reports that a Challenger-2 was captured. Russia claims that the UK gave Ukraine 14 Challenger 2 tanks that were engaged and destroyed by Russia in the Kursk region, as reported by TASS.
On the contrary, Oryx states that Ukraine has lost only two of these British tanks so far.
“Our experts have examined the US-made Abrams tank and found nothing to borrow. I am curious to have a look at the British Challenger; however, it is clear it is a cooking pot unready for real combat. The primary issue with most foreign vehicles is their complicated design and labor-intensive maintenance. The Ukrainian example shows the result,” the Rostec CEIP was quoted as saying.
Unlike the US-origin Abrams and German Leopard-2, both of which have been captured as war trophies by Moscow, the Challenger-2 has seen limited combat in Ukraine. The tank first made headlines in the region in August 2024, when Ukrainian forces used them for the first time to attack Russian positions in the Kursk region, successfully capturing a significant chunk of territory.
The Challenger-2 is loved by its operators, many of whom have heaped praise on its accuracy. The onboard computer acts as the tank’s “brain” and allows the crew to make highly accurate shots at distances of up to 10 kilometers. “It works like a sniper,” explained Tank Commander Oleksandr.
The crew also appreciated the tank’s durability. Oleksandr recounted an incident where the Challenger II survived a direct hit from a high-explosive round during a rocket attack by Russian helicopters. “The damage was 720 mm deep, but the crew inside survived. The tank could still move and complete its mission.”
In January 2025, Ukrainian forces were reported to be deploying the Challenger-2 tanks in a surprise counteroffensive in Russia’s Kursk region.
The Challenger-2 MBT, like all other tanks, has its weaknesses. However, the Russian slander of these tanks may be a stretch.
Besides making disparaging remarks about the Bradley and the Challenger-2, the Rostec chief also essentially called Abrams and Leopard-2 useless, stressing that they were not able to borrow anything from these Western war machines.
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“We study all trophies. If we find anything useful, we borrow it. Sometimes we see it is a good vehicle, but it cannot be engaged in our conditions. Thus, the German Leopard has modern components, fire controls, and a powerful engine, but with strange temperature restrictions. We did not see any breakthrough solutions and have nothing to borrow from Leopard for ourselves,” Chemezov said.
This comes days after Rostec stated that an expert evaluation suggests the German-origin tank is inferior to the Russian serial-produced T-72 B3M, T-80 BVM, and T-90M battle tanks, which are more suited to modern warfare. As explained by the EurAsian Times earlier, the Leopard 2A6s have been lost to side hits from drones and ATGMs.
These tanks were eventually fitted with cope cages to protect them against drone assaults from the top.
However, these are the common challenges faced by both Russian and Ukrainian tanks on the battlefield. While Russian tanks have very solid armor, a combination of steel, composite layers, and explosive reactive armor (ERA), they are far from being impenetrable.
The Rostec CEO’s statement reflects Russia’s pride in obliterating Western equipment that was hailed as a game changer before being introduced into the battlefield. But it would be helpful to remember that Russia, too, suffered staggering tank and infantry vehicle losses.
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