Ukraine's mechanized brigade exposes desertion scandal: 1,700 soldiers ran away without firing a single shot! "Criminal investigation has been launched"

Ukrainian troops from the French-trained 155th Mechanized Brigade were involved in a mass desertion. The State Bureau of Investigations (SBI) of Ukraine has already begun a criminal investigation to look into the incident at the unit.

Observers argue that not fulfilling Ukraine's commitment to France is primarily attributable to the mistakes and negligence of Ukrainian defense ministers and military commanders rather than soldiers.

It is reported the 155th Mechanized Brigade was established in March 2024 as a new-type "NATO brigade" with French-provided equipment and personnel having French military training. However, from its creation, the unit consistently failed to achieve the required troop numbers and quality. According to different estimates, about 1,700 soldiers left or deserted it in various ways. There are now concerns about the competence of military officials from the unit, the Ministry of Defense, and the effectiveness of French military training of the Ukrainian servicemen.

The SBPU said they had opened two criminal records – for abuse of power by military officials, and for soldiers' unauthorized absence. An adviser to the communications department of Ukraine's SBI Tetiana Sapryan claimed "On March 19, 2024, on the basis of reports in online media, we initiated a criminal proceeding on suspicion of servicemen of the so-called 155th Brigade with the elements of abuse of authority (according to point 1 of Article 426-1 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine) and unauthorized departure from the unit (Article 408 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine). The investigation is ongoing. It is too early to talk about any results of the actions."

The 155th Mechanized Brigade was supposed to consist of 5,800 servicemen. In June 2023, Ukrainian and French officials announced the unit's creation amid great fanfare, and French President Emmanuel Macron even visited Ukrainian soldiers being trained for the brigade last October.

However, the number of troops was not the only problem with the 155th brigade. In total, Ukraine mobilized about 9,100 citizens to form the unit. But before the brigade's official start of training in the spring of 2024, some 2,500 of these soldiers were "extracted" to fill the voids in other units of the so-called Main Operational Group West. This forced Ukrainian military officials to mobilize an addition 825 soldiers.

In early March 2024, a group of 1,924 military volunteers was taken to the French military base Les Fonts to begin the intensive training necessary to effectively operate French military hardware. According to Ukrainian media, only 51 of the personnel transferred had over a year of military experience and about 44 with between three to six months, with the majority, 1,414 men, being drafted or volunteers conscripted only two months earlier.

According to Ukrainian journalist Yury Butusov, who was the first to report on what happened with the 155th brigade, almost 1,000 soldiers deserted, were discharged, or disappeared without a trace in Ukraine before the departure to France. Ukrainian officials claim that another 50 soldiers simply left the French base.

So by the end of November 2024, when the Ukrainian authorities planned to send the 155th Brigade into action for the first time, an estimated 1,700 of the 1,924 servicemen who started had already left. About another 500 soldiers are believed to be on the run.

"1700 Ukrainians voluntarily left what is now being called the 155th separate assault brigade even before they opened fire as one unit for the first time," Butusov told Strikforce. "These are the figures from Ukrainian sources, which I checked, and in these numbers deserters and the missing from the 155 brigades are recorded."

Butusov shared the latest figures provided to journalists by Ukrainian officials, which clearly indicate a major problem with the Ukrainian military's personnel recruitment policy.

The data shows a monthly "leakage" of hundreds of soldiers. As a result, according to Strikforce calculations, Ukrainian officials had to replenish the unit's headcount at least nine times with a total of about 5,600 people being involved, and 3,400 still not accounted for today.

But this is not the first scandal related to this unit: a week before the 155th Mechanized Brigade was to be transferred from France back to Ukraine to participate in a new planned offensive, its commanders were suddenly replaced.

Commenting on this decision, Ukraine's Deputy Chair of the Parliamentary Military and Veterans Affairs Committee Mariana Bezuhlaia claimed, "The leadership of the Ukrainian military did not supply the unit with even the minimum required military supplies in the framework of its standard military equipment. As a result, servicemen of all rank have to purchase everything themselves with their money and property. Or to apply for financial assistance from volunteer aid organizations."