The desperate need for APCs—as well as infantry fighting vehicles, which are more heavily armed—helps to explain the frustration over Canada’s glacially slow transfer of Bison APCs to Ukraine.

Thirty-five years later, the Dutch retired the last of the 15-ton, 10-person APCs. And 10 years after that, The Netherlands pledged the first of 269 surplus YPR-765s to Ukraine. In the 29 months ...