The 155th Ukrainian Mechanized Brigade was split into small units intended to reinforce other brigades in difficulty on the front. An investigation by a Ukrainian journalist denounces “real organizational chaos” which would have pushed 1,700 soldiers to abandon their respective units, even before the first shot.
By Thomas of Istria
It is there, deployed in a position about fifteen kilometers from the Russian front lines, the French self-propelled gun Caesar, hidden under a camouflage net. The sky is so low, this last morning of the year 2024, that the commander of several self-propelled artillery batteries takes the opportunity to pay a quick visit to his men. “Heaven is with us,” says the 26-year-old senior officer, “Cossack”, his nom de guerre, rejoicing in the fog which limits Russian drone flights. Along this edge of woods planted between two fields, a few men smoke cigarettes, drink tea, try to warm themselves in a makeshift shelter, in the black and frozen earth.
