1,700 Western-equipped Ukrainian troops flee after training in France, leaving the rest of their brigade to suffer heavy casualties in battle with Putin’s forces

About 1,700 Western-equipped Ukrainian troops have disappeared after training in France, leaving the rest of their brigade to face Putin’s wrath alone.

The 155th Mechanized Brigade, one of Ukraine’s few units equipped with advanced Leopard 2 main battle tanks, was tasked with strengthening the country’s defenses.

Instead, at least fifty soldiers disappeared while the unit trained in France, and by the time it entered its first battle, 1,700 troops had left without leave.

Even in November, 500 soldiers remained missing, leading to a crisis for the brigade, also known as Anna of Kiev in honor of its historic ties with France.

This mass exodus took place before the unit deployed to Pokrovsk, a crucial logistics hub in the Donetsk region of eastern Ukraine.

When the exhausted brigade finally entered battle in recent days, it suffered heavy losses, including some of its prized Leopard tanks and other armored vehicles.

The debacle has led to an investigation by Ukraine’s State Investigative Agency into what critics call the unit’s “shambolic” formation.

The brigade was planned to have more than 5,800 troops and state-of-the-art Western weapons, including French Caesar 155mm howitzers.

It was the centerpiece of a high-profile £747 billion project jointly announced last year by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and French President Emmanuel Macron.

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 were not used to strengthen the battle-hardened brigades already on the front lines were active.

The 155th Mechanized Brigade trained for nine months 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 exposing Ukraine’s war effort.

Prominent war correspondent Yuriy Butusov gave 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 started from the beginning.

Recruitment began in June last year, but many of the 2,500 initial recruits were transferred to supplement other battle-worn units.

This left only 1,924 volunteers in France to undergo training, of whom only 51 had more than one year of military experience.

Shockingly, more than 1,400 people had joined the Ukrainian army for just two months before being sent on foreign exercises.

The unit also suffered an exodus during training, with more than 700 troops deserting on Ukrainian territory between October and November.

By the time the brigade was finally deployed to Pokrovsk, it was already weak 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 watching the conflict have questioned Kiev’s decision to invest in untested new brigades instead of reinforcing existing units hit by months of fighting.

Critics warn that the fiasco threatens not only to undermine morale but also to squander vital Western support that Ukraine depends on to fend off Russian aggression.

Serhii Sternenko, a prominent Ukrainian social media influencer and military fundraiser, revealed that he was forced to send vital equipment to the 155th Mechanized Brigade due to a worrying lack of government-provided supplies.

The brigade, deployed in Pokrovsk, reportedly received cash for reconnaissance drones just ten days after the start of the battle. By then the damage had already been done.

Brand new Leopard 2A4 tanks and French VAB armored vehicles supplied by Western allies were lost during their first use, as targets of Russian drones.

Butusov blamed the failures on Kiev’s inadequate preparation, calling it a disastrous waste of Western aid.

The chaos led to the quick dismissal of Colonel Dmytro Ryumshin, the brigade’s commander, just days after his troops entered the battle.

Even Ukraine’s military elite has issued scathing criticism.

Bohdan Krotevych, chief of staff of the famed Azov Brigade, questioned the logic behind creating new, poorly equipped units while leaving experienced brigades underpowered.

Butusov was even more scathing, describing the 155th as a “PR project” for President Zelensky that collapsed due to incompetence.

“The brigade’s soldiers became hostages of Zelensky’s PR project, which the authorities made no effort to actually carry out competently,” he said.

Now the once celebrated brigade has been effectively disbanded.

The remaining troops and equipment have been scattered among veteran units already defending Pokrovsk, marking a new grim chapter in Ukraine’s fight against Putin’s forces.