It is the moment of truth for the 2,300 men of the “Anne of Kyiv” brigade. Trained in France and largely equipped with French equipment, the 155th Ukrainian mechanized brigade, which bears the name of a kyiv princess who was queen of the Franks from 1051 to 1060, has been deployed in the Ukrainian theater in recent days.
A departure from France in November
The training period for this brigade, announced in June by Emmanuel Macron, began in September, in a French army camp located in Mourmelon-le-Grand (Marne).
In mid-November, photos released by theAgence France Presse showed advanced armored vehicles (VAB) of this 155th brigade on a train, a sign that the departure of this equipment for Ukraine was imminent.
Armored front vehicles of the 155th Ukrainian brigade on a train, in Mourmelon-le-Grand (Marne), November 14, 2024. FRANCOIS NASCIMBENI / AFP
At the same time, Roustem Umerov, the Ukrainian Minister of Defense, welcomed the end of the training of this brigade of Ukrainian soldiers, among others equipped with Caesar cannons, VABs, therefore, AMX-10 tanks and Leopard tanks. From then on, the sending of the 155th mechanized brigade to the front, where kyiv was sorely lacking in men, seemed imminent.
Arrival in the “combat zone”
It didn't take long for him to intervene. On December 11, in a message announcing that he was leaving the leadership of the unit, Colonel Dmitry Ryumshin indicated on the brigade's social networks that it had made its “entering the combat zone ».
The Ukrainian authorities have obviously not officially communicated on the precise location of this “combat zone”. in which the 155th brigade now operates.
However, clues spotted by open source intelligence specialists suggest that it was deployed in the Donbass, and more particularly in the Pokrovsk sector, where the Russians have been concentrating their efforts for several weeks.
