Russian Tanks In Prague Spark Grief, Curiosity

People look over a damaged Russian T-90A tank on display in a central Prague park on July 11. 

An exhibition of six Russian military vehicles damaged during the invasion of Ukraine will be officially opened in the evening by Zdenek Hrib, the mayor of Prague.

The interior of a Buk missile launcher on display in Prague's Letna Park.

The exhibition, titled Ukraine -- The Shield Of Europe, was organized by Ukraine's Defense Ministry and other government branches, and green-lit by Prague's city hall. The exhibition follows a similar outdoor display of Russian war machines in Warsaw. 

A Ukrainian man wearing a bracelet in the colors of his country's flag cries against the hull of a Khosta self-propelled mortar. He declined to speak to the media. 



 

An anti-war sign hangs from an apartment block overlooking the Russian vehicles in Prague.

Ilya Kuchynskiy, a Ukrainian volunteer and member of the country's territorial defense forces who was preparing the display for its July 11 opening, told RFE/RL the exhibition was intended "to remind people that war is not as far away as they think. Because if we will not stand, the Czech Republic is one of the next. And be sure, [Russia] will not stop." 

Early visitors to the exhibition look at a Khosta self-propelled mortar. 

Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov has called for captured Russian weaponry to be put on display in other European capitals, including Berlin, Lisbon, Madrid, and Paris, to keep the war in the forefront of people's minds, even as media interest begins to wane. 
 

Gauges in the turret of a T-90A tank.

David, a Czech military enthusiast who was visiting the exhibition as it was being set up on July 11, says he jumped at the chance to see modern Russian weaponry inside a NATO country but was struck by the human tragedy that the machines probably represented.

"I spent two years in a military academy, so I can't help but think about the soldiers that were inside the vehicles. Maybe they survived, maybe they didn't."

Casings and fragments from rockets and missiles on display in Prague.

 

An optical sighting device inside the turret of a Russian T-90A tank. On the left is the logo of Thales, a defense contractor partly owned by the French government. Another Thales-branded device was visible inside the tank. 

A boy looks down the barrel of an MSTA-S self-propelled howitzer. 

 

A tuft of dried grass from the battlefields of Ukraine is seen on a Russian vehicle. 

Children look at a Buk missile launcher. In the background is the barrel of a Khosta self-propelled mortar. 

A plate displays the serial numbers of a Buk missile launcher. 

A man weeps next to a Khosta self-propelled mortar. The apparently grieving man was later spoken to by police after climbing onto one of the Russian vehicles.

The lineup of Russian war machines on display.

The Prague exhibition will run until July 24.