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2025-01-07 Caucasus/Russia/Central Asia
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1,700 Ukrainian troops equipped by the West flee after being trained in France - leaving the rest of their brigade to suffer heavy losses in battle with Putin's forces
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[Daily Mail, where America gets its news] Around 1,700 Ukrainian troops equipped by the West have disappeared after being trained in France, leaving the remainder of their brigade to face Putin's wrath alone.
The 155th Mechanised Brigade, one of Ukraine's few units equipped with advanced Leopard 2 battle tanks, was supposed to bolster the country's defences.
Instead, at least 50 soldiers disappeared while the unit trained in France, and by the time it entered its first battle, 1,700 troops had gone absent without leave.
Even as late as November, 500 soldiers remained unaccounted for, sparking a crisis for the brigade, also known as Anne of Kyiv in honour of its historical ties with France.
This mass exodus occurred before the unit was deployed to Pokrovsk, a critical logistics hub in eastern Ukraine's Donetsk region.
When the depleted brigade finally entered combat in recent days, it suffered heavy losses, including some of its prized Leopard tanks and other armoured vehicles.
The debacle has prompted an investigation by Ukraine's State Bureau of Investigations into what critics are calling the 'shambolic' formation of the unit.
The brigade was intended to feature over 5,800 troops and state-of-the-art Western weaponry, including French Caesar 155mm howitzers.
It was the centrepiece of a high-profile £747 billion project jointly announced by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and French President Emmanuel Macron last year.
Instead, the brigade's collapse has exposed glaring flaws in Ukraine's strategy to build new military units from scratch, with analysts questioning why resources weren't used to bolster battle-hardened brigades already engaged on the front lines.
The 155th Mechanised Brigade spent nine months training in Ukraine, Poland, and France, as part of an ambitious plan to form 14 new brigades equipped with advanced Western weapons.
But critics say the project has descended into chaos, leaving soldiers ill-prepared for the battlefield and Ukraine's war effort exposed.
Prominent war correspondent Yuriy Butusov delivered a scathing assessment of the brigade's collapse, calling it 'a crime' not of the soldiers but of Ukraine's military leadership.
The brigade's problems reportedly began from the outset.
Recruitment launched in June last year, but many of the 2,500 initial recruits were siphoned off to replenish other battle-worn units.
This left just 1,924 volunteers to undergo training in France, of whom only 51 had more than a year's military experience.
Shockingly, over 1,400 had joined the Ukrainian army just two months before being sent for overseas drills.
The unit also suffered an exodus during training, with over 700 troops deserting on Ukrainian soil between October and November.
By the time the brigade was finally deployed to Pokrovsk, it was already understrength and under-resourced.
Despite being equipped with some of the most advanced Western tanks and artillery, it was sent into battle without drones - the essential tool for modern reconnaissance- or electronic warfare jammers.
Analysts observing the conflict have questioned Kyiv's decision to invest in untested new brigades instead of reinforcing existing units battered by months of combat.
Critics warn that the fiasco not only risks undermining morale but could squander the vital Western support Ukraine depends on to repel Russian aggression.
Serhii Sternenko, a prominent Ukrainian social media influencer and military fundraiser, revealed he had been forced to send essential kit to the 155th Mechanised Brigade due to a concerning lack of government-provided supplies.
The brigade, deployed to Pokrovsk, reportedly received cash for reconnaissance drones only 10 days after entering the fight. By then, the damage was done. 
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Posted by Skidmark 2025-01-07 00:00||
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