The United States, Germany and several other European countries are lining up to send Kyiv dozens of advanced combat tanks over the next few months to help boost Ukraine’s military capacity as the war approaches the 12-month mark.
Now a Russian company – Fores, a Urals-based firm which makes proppants for the energy industry – is offering cash payments to Russian servicemen who “capture or destroy” German-made Leopard 2 or U.S.-made Abrams tanks. Echoing language used by Russian officials and pro-war state TV hosts, Fores said NATO was pumping Ukraine with an “unlimited” amount of arms and escalating the conflict. It also said it would pay a 15-million rouble bounty on Western-made fighter jets, should they ever be delivered to Ukraine.
Since the start of the conflict, Russia’s defense ministry has claimed to have destroyed hundreds of pieces of Western weaponry.