Ukraine Military Gets Boost With UK Armored Vehicles Delivery

Ukraine accepted delivery of 20 Saxon armored vehicles from Britain last month to be weaponized and put into action by the army, a top aide to President Petro Poroshenko said Monday.

The vehicles — known as Saxons — came without weapons, which Ukraine plans to add before use by the army.

Last month the press service of Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council (NSDC) said 20 Saxon armored vehicles had already arrived in the country and another 55 would be shipped shortly.

NCDC Secretary Oleksander Turchynov said during a visit to the National Guard Training Center that although the armored vehicles need some readjustment they would be adapted for the Ukrainian army.

Turchynov added that the vehicles would enter service in the Ukrainian army as soon as they had been tested at a training range.

Meanwhile, General Sir Richard Dannatt, who served as Britain’s  Chief of the General Staff between 2006 and 2009, believes the Saxon armored vehicles are “quite useless.”

"My concern is the inadequate nature of these vehicles which I ordered out of British Army front line service when I was Commander in Chief Land Command 2005-2006. They were withdrawn from Iraq and never deployed in southern Afghanistan,” Dannatt told The Daily Telegraph.

The UK no longer uses the Saxon — but they are still utilized by countries including Nigeria and Bahrain for moving troops around.