Ukraine's State Bureau of Investigation is probing a brigade specially trained to use French weapons after reports that 1700 soldiers deserted the unit.
Tetyana Sapian, a spokesperson for the investigative agency, told Interfax-Ukraine that authorities had launched a criminal investigation into abuse of power and desertion at the 155th Mechanized Brigade.
The infantry brigade, named "Anne of Kyiv" after an 11th-century Kyiv princess who became a queen of France, has about 5,800 soldiers. Around 2,000 of them underwent months of training in France in 2024.
By November, the 155th was set to hit the front lines, with French officials saying these Ukrainian troops were now equipped to fight with Western battlefield training.
But a report last week by Ukrainian journalist Yuriy Butusov said the brigade has been buckling from desertion and leadership issues, even before it was deployed to Pokrovsk. "Before the brigade fired the first shot, 1,700 servicemen left it voluntarily," wrote Butusov.
No comments:
Post a Comment