“Problems” within the “Anne of kyiv” brigade, partly trained and equipped by France, were recognized this Monday by the commander of the Ukrainian land forces, Mikhaïlo Drapaty.
The rumors were growing. The commander of the Ukrainian land forces Mikhaïlo Drapaty recognized on Monday “problems” within the “Anne of kyiv” brigade, partly trained and equipped by France, after press revelations on cases of abuse of power and desertions.
“I confirm of course that there were problems with the command and the training process”he admitted to several media, including AFP.
A “minimal” number of 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 “minimal”.
In addition, kyiv claimed this Monday to have “inflicted losses” on Moscow’s forces in the Kursk region of Russiawhere it has controlled hundreds of square kilometers of territory since August 2024, when Moscow claims that kyiv has launched a new offensive in this border area.
The Russian army in Kurakhove removes Ukrainian flags.
The town of Kourakhove constitutes the last fortress in South Dombass.
The Russians will advance even faster now. pic.twitter.com/rnl7qu53sW— SILVANO TROTTA OFFICIEL (@silvano_trotta) https://twitter.com/silvano_trotta/status/1875944618640220601?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
“In the Kursk region, we are constantly inflicting losses” on the Russians, Ukrainian ground forces commander Mikhailo Drapaty told several media, including AFP, without giving more details on the ongoing operation.
The war of numbers
This brigade has been the subject of controversy since its return last month from France, where 2,300 of its 4,500 soldiers were trained.
According to renowned Ukrainian journalist Yuri Butousov, nearly 1,700 soldiers from the brigade desertedmost of them even before their unit was deployed to the front, and 50 during training in France. In a long message 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 his soldiers to other units to “plug the holes” in terms of staff. According to him, what remained of the brigade was sent in particular to Pokrovsk, one of the hottest sectors of the Eastern Front, while its commander was dismissed, as well as several of his subordinates.
Still according to this Ukrainian journalist, the brigade was not equipped with drones or electronic jamming equipment, tools that 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.
For its part, the French army spoke this Monday evening “a few dozen desertions” of Ukrainian soldiers trained in France.
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