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The Russian National Guard has captured at least eight Soviet-made 9K38 Igla MANPADs man-portable air-defense system (MANPADs) from Ukrainian forces.
The MANPADs were reportedly captured along with other weapons, including a British-made NLAW anti-tank missile, in the village of Pologi in Zaporizhzhia Oblast. On April 7, Russian sources shared several photos of the captured weapons.
The Igla’s 9M313 missile, which is guided by infrared homing, has a maximum range of five kilometers. The missile is armed with a 1.17-kilogram blast fragmentation warhead.
#Russia #Ukraine 🇷🇺🇺🇦: #Russian Forces released photos of captured weapons from #Ukrainian Troops in #Pologi, #Zaporizhzhia.
Several 9K38 Igla MANPADS, #UK-supplied #NLAW ATGM, a DP-27 LMG, shotguns, F-1 & RGD-5 grenades, PG-7VL rockets and MVCh-62 landmine fuzes can be seen. pic.twitter.com/JbKUr2B2GF
— War Noir (@war_noir) April 7, 2022
On March 11, a batch of Igla MANPADs, which were newly-delivered to Ukraine, was captured by the Russian military. Back then, the Russian Ministry of Defense said that it is working to determine which Eastern European state supplied Ukrainian forces with the systems.
The system is still in service with a number of Eastern European states which are now members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), including Bulgaria, Hungary, Slovenia and Slovakia.
NATO states acknowledged supplying Ukraine with thousands of Soviet-made 9K32 Strela-2 and 9K32M Strela-2M as well as US-made FIM-92 Stinger MANPADs. However, none of these states have publicly acknowledged sending Igla MANPADs to Ukrainian forces.
Russia warned against sending MANPADs to Ukraine, as this will create a long-term threat to civilian aviation in Europe and beyond. Despite this serious threat, NATO states continue to supply Ukrainian forces with these systems.
