^^^ That’s a tweet from @UAWeapons. You can view the post in full format and with three additional pictures here.
Apparently the Russian occupiers have run out of consumer products to loot. They have been driven out of the Kyiv area and are quickly fleeing from the vicinity of Kharkiv. So instead of washing machines and toilets, they are now grabbing weapons and live ammunition to take back to Russia and perhaps sell. Maybe somebody who bought highly radioactive substances looted from Chernobyl would also like a Pansarskott 86. This anti-armor weapon sells for about US$1,500, but it would probably be sold by looters for less than that.
It’s unclear whether the souvenir taker knew there was a live charge in the launcher. If so, that would cross the line from dumber to dumbest.
@UAWeapons in the post says that the Pansarskott 86 was taken from Eastern Ukraine and brought to Mytishchi which is a northeastern suburb of Moscow. That is not a short distance.
If it’s too small to read, the distance given is 922 km (573 miles). For people in North America, that’s the road distance between Montréal and the northern suburbs of Washington, DC. With Google Maps I chose the shortest distance – with the exception that I kept the route from going through Kharkiv which is under Ukrainian control. That’s a long way to travel with a device that could explode at any second.
If this were a single incident, people would just have a good laugh and share the story with each other. But this is part of a relentless pattern of grossly incompetent and unprofessional behavior by Russia’s military. It’s no wonder they are in second place (and dropping) in a two country war.
I can’t tell the make of the car in the photo. But it withstood that explosion surprisingly well. It may technically even be drivable over a short distance. That makes it superior to those Russian tanks whose turrets keep flying off after being hit by Ukrainian fire.
