More than a thousand Ukrainian soldiers desert from a newly trained elite brigade in France

PASCUAL SERRANO

On November 15, the agency Associated Press reported that the new brigade of several thousand Ukrainian troops had been trained in France and was joining “the fight against the invasion of Russia armed with tanks and artillery guns supplied by France.”

The Ukrainians had been undergoing intensive military training for more than two months in eastern and southern France by a French military task force they gave the festive name "Champagne."

The French military dedicated around 1.500 of its own soldiers to the Champagne task force, which trained Ukrainians “how to fight effectively together and how to use and maintain their French-supplied weaponry.”

The French military said the brigade's arsenal included 128 VAB armoured personnel carriers, 18 Cesar self-propelled howitzers and 24 AMX-10C light wheeled howitzers and tanks as well as the famous German Leopard 2A4s and other Western equipment.

The American agency described it in this epic tone: “With surveillance drones buzzing overhead and amid clouds of smoke and bursts of gunfire and explosions, Ukrainian soldiers conducted exercises this week at a French military training camp, showing how they have learned to defend and assault a complex of trenches like those on the battle fronts in Ukraine.”

The Ukrainian brigade would be named after Princess Anne of kyiv, 155th Brigade "Anna Kievskaya", who became Queen of France in the XNUMXth century when she married Henry I, and according to AP, "could prove a formidable force on the battlefield."

It was Ukraine's first major combat formation trained exclusively outside the country.

The Ukrainian media also euphorically explained the plan“Currently, more than 2.000 soldiers are completing their final training in France. Most of them were recently mobilized and had only received basic training before arriving in France in September. Meanwhile, Ukrainian military trainers continue to prepare additional troops for the brigade back home.”

INCLUDED Russian media picked up the news.

Champagne, princesses and the latest in weapons, nothing could go wrong in the fight against the Russians.

Well, on the return to Ukraine, more than a thousand soldiers from that 155th brigade deserted when they reached the front, in the city of Pokrovsk, where Russian troops were advancing. Which would leave the elite brigade completely inoperative.

On December 15, the commanding officer, Dmytro Ryumshin, resigned from his post before going into combat. In a brief statement posted on the brigade's Facebook page, he said he was grateful to the soldiers, non-commissioned officers and officers for their "loyalty and professionalism," and said it had been an honor to train with them.

El Ukrainian military journalist Yuriy Butusov He called Ryumshin “one of our best commanders,” explaining that the command had already seen hundreds of soldiers desert during training in France because the men assigned to the unit were not volunteers but forcibly recruited civilians. «They picked up several thousand people from the street, dressed them in uniforms, appointed a commander and called it a brigade»He said.

For Butosov"This is the typical style of our leaders, who do not take responsibility for their decisions and for them people are simply expendable."

La Ukrainian press reported on the disasterUkrainian MP Maryana Bezuhla, who has repeatedly denounced military inefficiency, criticised the brigade's lack of manpower and the poor training of its soldiers.

The Kyiv Post newspaper asked the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense about the scandal but received no response.

You give herDesertion is one of the major problems facing the Ukrainian military today. The Ukrainian government acknowledges that “more than 100.000 soldiers have been charged under Ukraine’s desertion laws since Russia invaded the country in February 2022.” All of this has led the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense to advance the forced recruitment of civilians, with the US government even urging Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to lower the recruitment age to 18.

The problem is so serious that Parliament passed a new law on August 20 allowing those who leave to rejoin the army without punishment after receiving an initial warning.

All this is aggravated by accusations of corruption that expose bribery networks, through which those with money manage to avoid going to court.

Pascual Serrano is a journalist and writer. His last book is "Forbidden to doubt. The ten weeks in which Ukraine changed the world”