A Russian Brigade Is Riding A Captured M-2 Bradley Into Battle

In the 17 months since Ukraine deployed its first American-made M-2 Bradley infantry fighting vehicles in combat along the front line of Russia’s 33-month wider war on Ukraine, the Russians have captured at least five of the 30-ton, 10-person vehicles.

And now the Russians are using one of those five captured Bradleys against the Ukrainians. A video that circulated online this week depicts a modified ex-Ukrainian M-2 in service with the Russian army’s 30th Motor Rifle Brigade.

The brigade is part of the Russian field army attacking through the ruins of Selydove in eastern Ukraine, aiming for the fortress city of Pokrovsk, the anchor of Ukraine’s last line of defense in Donetsk Oblast.

The Ukrainian army’s 47th Mechanized Brigade, one of two units riding in the hundreds of surplus M-2s the administration of U.S. Pres. Joe Biden has donated to Ukraine, fought in Selydove before taking a short break from the front line ahead of its redeployment to Kursk Oblast in western Russia last month.

While in Selydove, the 47th Mechanized Brigade—which also operates all of Ukraine’s American-made M-1 Abrams tanks—lost several M-2s. The advancing Russians captured relatively intact Bradleys as well as wrecked Bradleys that could function as sources of spare parts. Given the broad incompatibility of the BAE Systems-built M-2 with Russian-made vehicles, cannibalization of parts is the only way the Russians will be able to maintain their captured Bradleys.

The 30th Motor Rifle Brigade has modified its M-2 with a top-mounted camouflaged cage, improving its protection from one of Ukraine’s most prolific weapons: its explosive first-person-view drones.

How the Russians expect to arm their captured Bradley is unclear. The M-2 is equipped with an accurate 25-millimeter autocannon and a launcher for a pair of TOW anti-tank missiles. “The Brad … is not a tank, but it can be a tank killer,” explained Mark Hertling, a retired U.S. Army general who commanded a Bradley in Operation Desert Storm in 1991.

Have the Russians captured enough 25-millimeter rounds and TOW missiles to keep their M-2 in action for more than a few brief skirmishes? It’s unclear.

But even if the 30th Motor Rifle Brigade only deploys the 2000s-vintage M-2 as an unarmed ambulance, it’ll represent an improvement over the brigade’s existing BMP fighting vehicles. Where BMPs are notorious for their thin armor and tendency to explode when struck, the M-2 is famously tough.

“A Bradley may be hit, but the crew survives,” Ukrainian army Lt. Mykola Melnyk said after losing a leg while crewing an M-2 in combat last year. The same can’t be said of the Russian BMP-2, Russia’s answer to the M-2. Hit a BMP-2, Melnyk said, and “the entire crew dies.”