1,700 soldiers of 155th brigade, trained in France, illegally leave service. Butusov reveals details

1,700 servicemen from the 155th separate mechanized brigade named after Anne of Kyiv illegally left the service. The State Bureau of Investigation is studying the facts stated.

This was reported by journalist Yurii Butusov.

According to Yurii Butusov, during the formation of the 155th brigade, it turned out that the operational command West lacked everything necessary to create a new unit: neither command staff, nor soldiers, nor weapons, nor resources. The journalist describes this process as "complete organizational chaos in all aspects": "Before the brigade fired the first shot, 1,700 servicemen illegally left it."

Since the formation of the brigade began in March, the number of personnel has gradually decreased every month. In addition, according to Butusov, over 2,500 servicemen from the brigade were transferred to other units in the summer to replenish their ranks. “That is, they took almost all the fully qualified personnel from the brigade, whom the brigade commander and combat units had just assigned to positions, effectively nullifying all the previous four months of work.”

According to the journalist, in October, when the brigade left for training in France, there were already 935 cases of illegally leaving of service. In France itself, another 50 members of the brigade escaped from service.

“While the entire brigade command was training in France, thousands of new people were enrolled without the presence of brigade and battalion commanders. As a result, in October and November, more than 700 people escaped from the brigade on the territory of Ukraine immediately after being enrolled. They illegally left service without ever seeing their commanders,” the journalist writes.

Yurii Butusov reports that due to the absence of a brigade headquarters and battalion commanders, the command began sending unarmed and uncoordinated soldiers to the Pokrovsk area.

The brigade commander, Dmytro Riumshyn, was removed from his post almost immediately after the brigade entered the battle. This happened due to the conclusion of the Ground Forces Command commission, which found him responsible for the escape of 50 servicemen in France, notes Butusov. After that, the chaos in the brigade's management only increased.

According to the journalist, in nine months the brigade actually changed staff seven times, and the level of training of most of the soldiers remained low.

Butusov also reports that the brigade lacked drones and electronic warfare equipment, which led to the loss of the latest Leopard-2A4 tanks and VAB armored vehicles during their first use at the front.

In addition, before sending the brigade to the front, the operational command West and the Ground Forces Command initially assessed its combat capability as "unsatisfactory" in the official Capabilities Assessment Act. However, according to the journalist, this conclusion was changed under pressure "from above".

Tetiana Sapyan, the SBI's communications advisor, told Ukrainian Pravda that in December the SBI opened a criminal case regarding the circumstances of the formation of the 155th mechanized brigade.

We will remind, only 1.3% of cases of desertion of Ukrainian military personnel reach court.