Roshel arms manufacturer has reportedly delivered 1,000 of its Senator vehicles to Kiev
Moscow’s forces have destroyed a Ukrainian ‘Senator’ armored personnel carrier (APC), the Russian Defense Ministry said in a statement on Telegram on Saturday. It is the first official mention of a Canadian-made wheeled APC being hit by the Russian forces.
The vehicle was hit as the Russian military attacked Kiev’s forces in the southern Donetsk People’s Republic and the Zaporozhye Region, the statement said. Moscow’s troops were able to push the Ukrainian forces back, it added. Kiev lost more than 140 servicemen as well as several vehicles, including the Senator one, a British-made FH-70 howitzer and a US-made M198 artillery piece in this area alone over the past 24 hours, according to the Russian ministry.
It is unclear how many Senator vehicles are currently in use by the Ukrainian military. Some media outlets reported in late 2023, citing the CEO of the Canadian Roshel arms manufacturer, that the company had supplied a total of 1,000 such APCs to Ukraine by that time. It is also unclear if Kiev received a regular version of the APC or a mine-resistant ambush protected (MRAP) one.
Roshel advertised ‘Senator’ as its flagship “combat proven platform” that had supposedly demonstrated its effectiveness in conflict zones. Several media outlets even claimed back in 2018 that the vehicle was “can survive even apocalypse.”
Russia has repeatedly stated that continued Western arms shipments only prolong the ongoing conflict without changing its eventual outcome. Moscow also said that arms supplied to Kiev by its Western backers had failed to provide an upper hand on the battlefield.
The Russian military had seen “nothing unique or invulnerable for Russian weapons” on the frontlines, former Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu said back in August 2023. Some Soviet-era weapons have proven to be superior in combat to their modern Western equivalents, he added at that time.
The news came amid the continued Russian offensive that has been ongoing over the past months. Ukrainian forces have been gradually losing ground to their Russian counterparts, with particularly serious setbacks occurring last month in Kharkov Region.
Moscow’s forces launched an operation in the northeastern Ukrainian Kharkov Region in early May in response to the routine cross-border strikes by Kiev’s forces. According to President Vladimir Putin, Ukrainian attacks in Belgorod Region, including against civilian targets, necessitated the Russian offensive. The goal is to establish a buffer zone there, he said.
