“I confirm of course that there were problems with the command and the training process,” he admitted to several media, but “perhaps not on the scale […] presented”. “As far as possible, all these problems are being resolved,” he continued, assuring that the number of desertions of soldiers trained in France was “minimal”.
“There have been a certain number of desertions, but these remain very marginal given the volume of people who have been trained”
The “Anne of kyiv” 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 Boutoussov, nearly 1,700 soldiers from the brigade deserted, most of them before their unit was even deployed to the front, and 50 during training in France.
On this point, the French army said Monday that it had noted “a few dozen” desertions during training, a “marginal” phenomenon according to it. “There have been a certain number of desertions, but they remain very marginal given the volume of people who have been trained,” maintained a French general staff official. “They were in French barracks, they had the right to leave,” he added, specifying that the training had been “in accordance” with the wishes of the Ukrainians, in terms of “equipment, training time and level “.
“No one hides them”
The Ukrainian journalist Yuri Boutoussov described “complete organizational chaos” in the initial training of the brigade and accused the Ukrainian general staff of having sent some of these soldiers to other units to “plug the holes” in terms of staffing.
An investigation had been opened into cases of abuse of power and desertions within this brigade, AFP learned on January 2. “There were certain problems, and they still exist, no one hides them,” Ukrainian Ground Forces Commander Mikhailo Drapaty told reporters. “We are taking certain measures, particularly in terms of training and coordination, so that this military unit is truly ready to fulfill its missions,” he added. The soldier also recognized, in a rare admission by the Ukrainian general staff, that the problems encountered by the “Anne of kyiv” brigade were “systemic for other brigades”: “It’s not a secret. »
To resolve them, “we also need an overall approach,” he said, at a time when Ukrainian forces are struggling against Russian troops, who are more numerous and better armed.
Furthermore, Mikhaïlo Drapaty assured that his army “constantly inflicts losses” on Moscow’s forces in the Russian region of Kursk, where it has controlled hundreds of square kilometers of territory since August 2024. Russian forces affirmed on Sunday that the Ukrainian troops had launched a new offensive in this border area in Russian territory.
