Several Ukrainian soldiers took part in a military exercise in France. Others disappeared without permission at the time when the Kyiv Anna unit was supposed to join the fighting. The soldiers who did not desert were distributed among other units.
Ukraine has opened criminal proceedings in the case of desertion and “abuse of authority” in an army unit from which more than 1,700 soldiers allegedly fled before joining the fighting. The unit, called Kyiv Anna, was created last year and its training also took place in France. TASR writes according to reports AFP and The Daily Telegraph.
“The investigation is ongoing. It is premature to talk about any preliminary conclusions,” said the spokeswoman of the Ukrainian investigative agency.
Failure also due to bad management
In December, Ukrainian journalist Yuriy Butusov reported on the disappearance of at least 50 members of the 155th Mechanized Brigade during a military exercise in France. According to him, another 1,700 disappeared without permission when the unit was supposed to join the fighting. One of the Ukrainian legislators said that the unit failed also because of bad management.
For the past nine months, the brigade has been training in the west of Ukraine, in Poland and in France. It was part of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s plan to create 14 new army units equipped and trained by Western countries. It was to have approximately 5,000 troops and the best available equipment, including Leopard 2 tanks, reports The Daily Telegraph.
The soldiers who did not desert were distributed among other units. According to AFP, the Ukrainian army in the fight against Russia will be exposed to great uncertainty in 2025 due to the lack of soldiers or their exhaustion.
