WITH its soldiers trained in France and high-profile endorsements from the French and Ukrainian presidents, the “Anne of Kyiv” brigade was supposed to be a flagship unit for Ukraine’s army.
But just months after being created, it finds itself fighting two enemies — Russians across the battlefield and an internal scandal that has shocked the Ukrainian military establishment.
Kyiv has been rocked by reports that hundreds of troops deserted the unit — most before being sent into conflict and a handful while undergoing training in France.
The controversy is being seen as a snapshot of familiar issues that have plagued Ukraine’s army since Russia invaded three years ago, and comes at a critical political and military juncture for Kyiv.
“Yes, there are problems, we are aware of them,” Land Forces Commander Mykhailo Drapaty said of the 155th Mechanized Brigade, the brigade’s official name, in comments to media including AFP during a press tour to the unit.
“There are problems and there have been problems with staffing, training, and partly with the command staff,” Drapaty said, referring to “the negative things that came out in the public domain,”
French President Emmanuel Macron announced the creation of the Anne of Kyiv brigade—named after a Middle Ages Kyiv princess that married into the French royal family—during last year’s commemorations of the 80th anniversary of the Normandy landings.
Paris hailed it as a “unique” initiative and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he wanted to form a dozen other NATO-trained and equipped units.
But that image was shattered in December, when military blogger Yuri Butusov alleged that 1,700 of the brigade’s soldiers had deserted, including 50 while training in France.