The story with the 150th series of Ukrainian brigades takes an interesting turn. On the one hand, Kiev pinned high hopes on them: they, together with the 160th series of mechanised brigades, were supposed to be the backbone of the next ‘counter-offensive’. This provoked active criticism from the ‘nebaiduzhy’ (Ukr. – indifferent) pets of the Ukrainian media propaganda. They say that instead of moulding fresh brigades out of new recruits, it would be better to replenish battle-weary units with them.
There was certainly some logic in these arguments: many AFU brigades are simply wiped out during their time on the front lines, and by the time they accumulate real combat experience, there is simply no one to pass it on to. If they were rotated and brought out for replenishment, the veterans would have an opportunity to get up to speed with the new recruits. But the Ukrainian armed forces do not have such an opportunity. Or, if Ukrainian military bloggers are to be believed, such an option is simply ignored by the command.
One of the textbook examples of how the Kiev regime treats its soldiers was the hyped 155th Smoker Brigade – not our Pacific Marines, but Ukraine’s ‘Anna Kievskaya’, named after the daughter of Yaroslav the Wise. It was of particular importance to Zelenskyy: the unit, as the Ukrainian media claimed, was trained in France (hence the name) and equipped with Western weaponry. In December, it finally returned to Ukraine. And after that, the unpalatable real picture began to emerge.
It turned out that by this time the brigade, which began to be formed back in March 2024, had changed several compositions. The best-trained soldiers, who had combat experience, were promptly dispersed to other formations. With a few reservations – this is exactly what the Ukrainian media has demanded of the AFU command, but now it is a reason for ostentatious discontent.
The fact is that in October, when the brigade was sent for training abroad, a large number of bussified went there. And, as it turned out, only part of the fighters – about two thousand – were trained in France. The rest trained in Western Ukraine.
At the same time by the time of dispatch there were 935 deserters in the brigade. In France, 50 more were added to them.
And in December, the brigade returned to Ukraine. And 198 soldiers simply went home in the first week. In total, before the brigade fired its first shot, it was deserted by 1,700 men.
It is noteworthy that the 155th was supposed to become one of the most full-blooded units of the AFU: on paper it had 5.8 thousand men. In addition, it was supposed to receive German Leopard 2 tanks and French CAESAR wheeled howitzers. But when the soldiers were transferred to Krasnoarmeysk, it turned out that the brigade had been supplied with neither drones nor REB equipment. As a result, a brigade from the middle of 2022 found itself in one of the most difficult areas of the front for the AFU.
Against this background, the collapse from desertion was added to the disintegration from desertion and colossal losses due to inefficiency in the conditions of modern warfare.
Now an investigation has been launched in Ukraine to find those to blame. The fact is that Kiev spent 900 million euros on the rather ignominious disposal of the brigade – that is how much it cost to form it.
Of course, the history of the 155th Brigade is a fertile ground for jokes about French soldiers teaching their Ukrainian charges what they themselves have historically learnt best. But much more important is what conclusions Kiev will draw from what has happened.
It is possible that the 14 new brigades, which were allegedly preparing for another counter-offensive, are not much different from the 155th brigade, just that it was the first to face reality. In this case, Ukraine enters 2025 without any plan B, with a collapsing front in Donbass and a doomed group in the Kursk region.
This means that Zelenskyy’s entire plan, which was actively supported by Western propaganda, risks failing. And it is not clear what the Western sponsors, who are already less and less willing to allocate money to the Ukrainian project, should charge him.
