Forming new brigades was stopped in Ukraine.
This was reported in an interview for "We are Ukraine" by the Deputy Head of the Office of the President of Ukraine and former commander of the 93rd “Kholodnyi Yar” Brigade Pavlo Palisa, referring to the decision of the Supreme Commander-in-Chiefʼs Headquarters.
According to him, the main efforts will now be focused on replenishing the existing brigades that are already operating in the combat zone. In the context of the newly created brigades, training will continue, "taking into account the moments that we had in previous times".
What preceded
The formation of the 155th Anna Kyivska Separate Brigade began in March 2024. This was the first time a new brigade was formed and armed from scratch together with a foreign country in a short period of time.
Journalist Yuriy Butusov stated on December 31, 2024 that between March and November, 1 700 soldiers from the 155th separate mechanized brigade named after Anna Kyivska deserted. He also noted that in October, when the brigade went to France for training, another 50 soldiers deserted.
The then commander of the Land Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine stated that he had not observed any mass cases of soldiers of the 155th Motorized Rifle Brigade leaving combat positions.
"Instead, I observe a certain substitution of concepts, when the number of AWOL
At the same time, he acknowledged that the newly formed brigade faced a number of problems, including low efficiency and motivation of mid-level commanders.
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.
In early January, law enforcement officers detained the commander of one of the companies of the 155th Motorized Rifle Brigade — he allegedly not only left the unit without permission, but also incited his fighters to do so.
Later, the former commander of the 155th Motorized Rifle Brigade Dmytro Ryumshyn was detained. According to the investigation, he did not inform the pre-trial investigation bodies about the AWOL cases, although they reported them to him not only orally, but also in written reports.
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