French president Emmanuel Macron spent almost a billion euros forming Ukrainian 155. Anna Kiev Brigade. This 1 fell apart before it got to the front. Almost half of her staff have been deserted. The case described Ukrainian investigative writer Yuri Butusov.
The fresh Ukrainian brigade broke up due to desertion. A fewer days ago, the State Bureau of Investigation of Ukraine (SBI) launched a criminal case concerning the circumstances of the creation of the 155th Mechanized Brigade "Anna Kiev", which was to enter the fighting at Pokrowski. 1 of the commanders liable for the formation of the brigade died of a heart attack, and his replacement was promptly released upon reaching the front. As it turned out, partially trained in France and equipped with the unit's equipment, it crashed before it fired the first shot. As many as 1,700 soldiers deserted it.
155. The brigade began forming in March 2024. Its commander was appointed Dmytro Ryumszyn, an experienced commander, which looked encouraging. The creation and cast of the unit was liable for the operational command of the ‘West’, which was headed by General Swedeuk, Colonel Seletsky and General Pawluk. In practice, however, it turned out that there are not adequate people to form a professional staff. There were besides no experienced soldiers, weapons and supplies to make a fresh unit.
Formation 155. The brigades from the first days were characterized by full organizational chaos in virtually all element. A unit of 4,500 people, 2,550 random soldiers were thrown into the unit, mostly from street captures and reconvalescents who were freshly returning from hospitals. In late September 2024, this gathering went to France for “training”.
Eventually 1924 soldiers were sent to Paris, of which only 51 had a military internship longer than a year, 459 little than a year, and most, due to the fact that 1,414 people, were private and served for little than 2 months (primary training). Moreover, there were besides 150 recently recruited people with no training.
The first desertions have already taken place in France. On the occasion, 50 Ukrainians escaped. Further cases occurred in Ukraine. In October and November 700 people escaped from the group that remained in the country.
Interestingly, the quality of French training in many specialties, above all on the BSP operator, proved to be very low. In fact, all persons assigned to specialist posts were not ready to fight and needed additional training to gain real combat capability. The brigade had the chance to receive specified training only after joining the fight, which is... right after returning from the West.
The brigade staff predicted over 150 drones to be armed, including 137 "Mavik-3". This number was small, given that six BSP platoons and a BSP battalion consisting of 3 companies provided staff in each Mechanized and Shooting Battalion. However, the brigade did not receive any drone from the state to carry out combat missions.
Thus, the brigade, full equipped with infantry, artillery and armored vehicles, did not have drones – the main means of recognizing and fighting in modern warfare, making it unfit to carry out meaningful activities. She received 17 million hryvnia to acquisition a drone organization from the Ministry of Defence, but only 10 days after reaching the front.
All the above problems caused hundreds more soldiers to flee the unit. According to Yuri Butusov, a full of about 1,700 out of 4,500 soldiers were deserted.
Butusov accused Ukrainian military command of failing to pre-train the brigade and sending her soldiers to another units to “fix the holes” in the individual lineup. “Because of specified a criminal attitude towards the lives of soldiers, the brigade suffered crucial losses in the first days” – he wrote.
We besides recommend: The invader threw himself with a knife on random persons.
