“a few dozen” Ukrainian soldiers trained in France have deserted, according to the French general staff

The Ukrainian army spoke of “problems” on Monday with a brigade of 4,500 soldiers, 2,300 of whom were trained in France.

The French army, which trained a Ukrainian brigade in France before it left for the front, said on Monday January 6 that it had observed “a few dozen” of desertions during training, after a Ukrainian commander mentioned “problems” within this unit. “There have been a certain number of desertions, but these remain very marginal given the volume of people who have been trained”declared a French general staff official to AFP.

According to him, the trained soldiers were subject to “a regime (…) imposed by the Ukrainian command”. More “we do not criminalize desertion in France”he stressed. “If someone deserted, a French prosecutor had no authority to arrest this individual. And the right granted to the Ukrainian authorities on French soil is just a disciplinary right.”

The commander of the Ukrainian ground forces, Mikhailo Drapaty, spoke on Monday “problems” within this brigade, after press revelations on cases of abuse of power and desertions. “As far as possible, all these issues are being resolved”he continued, assuring that the number of desertions of soldiers trained in France was “minimum”.

“I don’t really see what could be characterized as an abuse of power”estimated for his part the head of the French general staff. “In any case, there is nothing that has been reported concerning the parking of Ukrainians in France or what happened during these training sessions.” He insisted that the training had been “according to” to the wishes of Ukrainians, in matters “equipment, training time and level”.