Ukraine’s land forces commander on Monday admitted there were “problems” with an army unit partly trained in France after reports that many of its soldiers had deserted.
The 155th Mechanised Brigade, dubbed “Anne of Kyiv”, was one of several military groupings formed last year as Ukraine sought to boost preparations for possible new Russian offensives.
The unit is made up of 4,500 soldiers, with France training roughly half of them and providing equipment.
“Yes, there are problems, we are aware of them,” Land Forces Commander Mykhailo Drapaty said of the 155th Mechanised Brigade, known as the “Anne of Kyiv” brigade, in сomments to media including AFP.
Ukraine’s State Bureau of Investigation last week opened a probe into desertion in the unit and “abuse of power” by a military official, saying the investigation was ongoing.
“There are problems and there have been problems with staffing, training, and partly with the command staff,” Drapaty said, referring to “the negative things that came out in the public domain”.
“All of this has been recognised, analysed and certain conclusions drawn,” the general said.
The French army trained on French territory 2,300 soldiers from the brigade, named Anne of Kyiv, after the Kyiv-born princess who married the French 11th century King Henri I.
The other 2,200 soldiers in the brigade were trained in Ukraine.
– ‘Negative experience’ –
French President Emmanuel Macron met part of the brigade in October at a military camp in eastern France.
Prominent Ukrainian journalist Yuriy Butusov wrote in December that 1,700 soldiers had fled the brigade without going into combat, and that 50 had escaped while training in France.
Asked about Butusov’s report, Drapaty said Monday: “I will not refute it.”
He said that “a number of the facts that were presented (by Butusov) did take place”, while “perhaps not on the scale and scope that was presented”.
There were “AWOLs” in the unit, he admitted, citing the personnel’s “fear” and saying “some of them lack practical experience in combat operations”.
He said “the success of the personnel depends on skilful command, which we are working on now, and I will not keep this secret”.
The brigade “is currently performing combat missions”, the commander said.
Ukrainian lawmaker Mariana Bezugla said last month that the brigade had been effectively dismantled and redistributed across other units, blaming a lack of “coordination of command structures”.
“Even the French efforts to make the brigade specialised couldn’t save it from the poor military decisions of our generals, which ultimately dismantled the unit,” she said.
Drapaty described the unit’s creation as “a negative lesson, a negative experience”.
But he stressed: “Believe me, we are making every effort to make the brigade effective.”
He insisted the unit would prove its training by France was “not in vain” and said he was “sure that this is not the last brigade” to be created jointly by Ukraine and France.
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