The Commander of the Ground Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Major General Mykhailo Drapatiy, stated that he had not observed any mass cases of soldiers of the 155th mechanized brigade leaving combat positions.
"Instead, I observe a certain substitution of concepts, when the number of militants going AWOL is equal to cases of desertion," he emphasized.
According to him, the main challenge the brigade faced was the low efficiency and motivation of mid-level commanders who directly manage people. This, as well as the involvement of units in combat operations, determines the number of AWOL in the 155th brigade.
Drapatiy emphasized that the 155th brigade was formed and armed from scratch together with a foreign country for the first time and in a short time, so it was impossible to foresee all the nuances and details of this process. These processes took place before he was appointed to the position of commander of the Land Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
He noted that when the brigade was formed, there was a “formal attitude” on the part of responsible officials. This includes improper management and control of the entire process, errors during recruitment and not always balanced decisions in personnel management, imperfect planning of training both in Ukraine and abroad, as well as a belated reaction of the high command to current problems.
The Commander of the Land Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine said that they have already analyzed most of the systemic shortcomings that were made by the Land Forces Command, the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, and the Operational Command at all stages of the formation of the 155th brigade.
"Decisions are already being implemented on certain issues," said Mykhailo Drapatiy.
He noted that he is personally involved in staffing the brigade with experienced officers and commanders of all levels.
Drapatiy also "received a requirement from the commander" — it is being processed at all levels. The Ministry of Defense wants to provide the brigade with the maximum possible.
To strengthen the brigade commander, a special group of psychologists is working in the units. There are certain results: for example, servicemen who voluntarily left the unit are returning to service, says Drapatiy.
"Right now, the soldiers of the brigade are gaining their first combat experience, proving themselves and are very sensitive not only to unfair treatment, but also to one-sided coverage of the conditions of their service," the commander of the Land Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine emphasized.
He says that the fighters see not only problems, but also positive aspects. For example, the development of unmanned systems in the brigade, the fact that the brigade has high-quality weapons.
Therefore, a special hotline of the commander of the Land Forces will operate for servicemen of the 155th brigade. Drapatiy says that he wants to understand how much the decisions of the command affect the motivation of the fighters and the real state of affairs.
What preceded
On December 31, journalist Yuriy Butusov stated that 1,700 soldiers from the 155th separate mechanized brigade named after Anna Kyivska had voluntarily left the service before “the brigade fired the first shot.”
According to Butusov, from the very beginning it turned out that the Operational Command "West", which created the 155th brigade, had "no command personnel, no soldiers, no weapons, no resources" for this.
The 155th brigade began to be formed in March 2024. Butusov listed the number of personnel by the time they went to the front for each month and the number of fighters who went to the North-Eastern Front that month (in brackets):
- March 46 (3);
- April 123 (6);
- May 217 (31);
- June 1978 (185);
- July 3,882 (310);
- August 2,748 (217);
- September 3,253 (187);
- October 3,211 (339);
- November 5,832 (448).
Butusov also notes that in October, when the brigade went to France for training, another 50 soldiers deserted. According to him, 1,924 soldiers were sent to France, of whom only 51 had more than a year of military service experience, and 459 had less than a year. And the majority, 1,414, were soldiers who had just been enlisted, having fought for two months by that time.
“Especially problematic,” Butusov claims, were about 150 people who were recruited without selection and sent to France without basic military training.
Butusov stated that the State Bureau of Investigation opened a criminal case due to the incident in France.
In a comment to Ukrainska Pravda, SBI communications advisor Tetyana Sapyan said that the SBI is indeed investigating these facts and has opened criminal proceedings for desertion and abuse of power or authority by a military official.
According to her, the investigation is ongoing and it is still too early to talk about any preliminary results.
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