This is a scandal that the kyiv authorities, who are struggling to renew their forces on the front, would have done well without. Ukrainian investigators told AFP this Thursday, January 2, that they had launched investigations into cases of abuse of power and desertions within the “Anne of kyiv” brigade, partly trained and equipped by France in the war. against Russia. “The State Bureau of Investigation is effectively studying the facts presented in the media as part of the criminal proceedings initiated under the articles” related to abuse of power and desertion, Tatyana told AFP Sapian, the spokesperson for this official body.
This brigade, announced by Emmanuel Macron during his speech during the commemorations of the 80th anniversary of the landing, has been the subject of controversy since its return last month from France, where 2,300 of the 4,500 soldiers who make it up were trained . According to renowned Ukrainian journalist Yuri Boutoussov, nearly 1,700 soldiers from the brigade deserted, most of them before their unit was even deployed to the front, and 50 during training in France.
Soldiers sent to “plug the holes”
This journalist accused Tuesday in a long message on Facebook the Ukrainian military command for having failed in the initial training of the brigade, which took place in “complete organizational chaos” and for having sent its soldiers to other units to “plug the holes” in terms of workforce. According to him, what remained of the brigade was sent in particular to Pokrovsk, one of the hottest sectors of the Eastern Front, while its commander was dismissed, as well as several of his subordinates.
The cost of creating this new brigade trained in France is estimated at 900 million euros, with 80% of these funds expected to be invested directly in technical equipment and training of soldiers. France, for its part, fulfilled all its obligations in terms of arming and training the brigade, underlines the Ukrainian journalist, who also affirms that the final result “led French leaders to question the seriousness of the attitude of Ukrainians to the implementation of such an expensive project”.
A “criminal attitude” towards the lives of soldiers
Still according to Yuri Boutoussov, the brigade was not equipped with drones or electronic jamming equipment, tools that have become essential for military units in this war. “Because of this criminal attitude towards the lives of soldiers, the 155th brigade suffered significant losses from the first days,” he accused, explaining that most of the soldiers of this unit sent to the front were trying to honestly perform their duty, but were simply not sufficiently trained for combat.
The Ukrainian journalist points to the Ukrainian chain of command as responsible, whether it is President Volodymyr Zelensky, “who made unrealistic promises to the [président français] Macron and did not control the situation at all”, Defense Minister Rustam Umerov, “who did not pay attention to the preparation and equipment of such a large combat brigade”, or the commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Oleksandr Syrsky, “who is not able to organize the planned process of organization, training and use of reservists.” It is too early to talk about preliminary results,” explained Tatyana Sapian, spokesperson for the Ukrainian State Bureau of Investigation.
The problems within the “Anne of kyiv” brigade had already been denounced by Ukrainian MP Mariana Bezougla, known for her virulent criticism of the military high command, who spoke in early December of a “zombie brigade” formed for the purposes of “publicity “.
French President Emmanuel Macron visited the soldiers of the 155th Ukrainian brigade at the beginning of October during their training in France. France gave this brigade 128 VAB troop transport vehicles, 18 AMX-10 tanks, 18 Caesar self-propelled guns as well as trucks, armored medical evacuation vehicles, Mistral anti-aircraft and Milan anti-tank missile firing points.