On October 9, Emmanuel Macron visited with great fanfare a “military camp in the Grand Est”, the location of which remained secret. And for good reason, 2,300 Ukrainian soldiers were trained there by the French army. The latter are part of the 4,500 soldiers who make up the 155th mechanized brigade of the Ukrainian armed forces, called the “Anne of kyiv” brigade, named after the daughter of Yaroslav the Wise, Grand Prince of kyiv, who was queen of the Franks in the 11th century. century.
But just weeks after its deployment to Ukraine, the brigade is already the subject of controversy. An investigation was opened by the Ukrainian authorities after a journalist's revelations about the desertion of nearly 1,700 soldiers from the unit before returning to the front, and even during their training in France.
Nine weeks of training
If the French president took care to visit them this fall, it was because he himself announced the creation of this unit on June 6, during Volodymyr Zelensky's visit for the 80th anniversary of the Landings.
In September 2024, training began in France for around 2,300 of the 4,500 Ukrainian soldiers in the “Anne of kyiv” brigade – the rest being in Ukraine. Training intended for all levels and all specialties, from the staff command post, to infantry battalions through support units (artillery, engineering, anti-drone surveillance, etc.), explained Le Parisien last October.
For nine weeks, these Ukrainian soldiers were trained and supervised by 1,500 French soldiers from the “Champagne” Task Force, in a “military camp in the Grand Est”, according to the Ministry of the Armed Forces. And the place, whose precise location remained confidential, was not chosen at random. Creation of trenches, noise, deployment of drones… A “realistic environment” was created especially to allow the brigade to train in “real conditions”, specifies the ministry.
Their training was divided into three phases: first that of the individual fighters, then those of the units, and finally that of the command post. One of the goals of the training was for Ukrainian soldiers to return to the front with the equipment they trained on, provided by France, i.e. 150 armored vehicles, including AMX-10 tanks, 18 Caesar cannons, 20 anti-tank missile posts as well as large off-road military trucks.
A “zombie brigade”
But, a few weeks after its return to Ukraine, the brigade became the subject of controversy. More than a thousand soldiers are said to have deserted the unit, some of whose officers are accused of abuse of power. “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, said Tatyana Sapian, the door -speech of this official body.
According to Yuri Boutoussov, a renowned Ukrainian journalist, nearly 1,700 soldiers from the brigade deserted, most of them before their unit was even deployed to the front, including 50 during training in France. In a long message posted on Facebook on Tuesday, he accused the Ukrainian military command of having failed in the initial training of the brigade, which took place in “complete organizational chaos”, and of having sent its soldiers to other units to “fill the holes” in terms of numbers.
According to the journalist, part of the brigade was notably sent to Pokrovsk, one of the hottest sectors of the eastern front, while its commander and several of his subordinates were dismissed from their posts. Yuri Boutoussov also claims that the brigade was not equipped with drones or electronic jamming tools, which 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.
At the beginning of December, Ukrainian MP Mariana Bezougla, known for her virulent criticism of the military high command, had already denounced problems within the “Anne of kyiv” brigade, referring to a “zombie brigade” formed for “publicity” purposes. “The investigation is ongoing. It is too early to talk about preliminary results,” Tatyana Sapian simply commented.
