A brigade idealized by French President Emmanuel Macron and Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelensky, educated and outfitted in France, has turn out to be an infinite supply of scandal.
Ukrainian and French media report on the mass desertion within the a hundred and fifty fifth Ukrainian mechanized brigade ‘Anne de Kyiv’, the place virtually 1 / 4 has abandoned.
Le Figaro reported (translated from the French):
“This unit was meant to be a profitable fight power of the Ukrainian military. However since its deployment to the entrance, it has been multiplying controversies over gear shortages, together with drones, and mass abandonment of posts amongst its troopers.
The Ukrainian military introduced on Tuesday, Could 20, 2025, that it was launching an inspection of the “Anne of Kiev” brigade, educated and outfitted by France to help Ukraine within the face of the Russian invasion, however which has been on the coronary heart of scandals regarding embezzlement and desertions for months.”
The brigade was hailed by Macron and Zelensky as ‘an emblem of navy cooperation between Kyiv and Paris’.
Ukrainian journal Ukrainska Pravda revealed on Monday (19) that Colonel Tarass Maksimov was concerned in a case of false funds and extortion of cash from his troops.
“The brigade can be going through some 1,200 abandonments of posts, whereas its numbers embody lower than 5,000 troopers, about half of whom had been educated in France. ‘After the publication of the article in Ukrainska Pravda, I ordered an extra official inspection of the details revealed by the journalists’, the commander of the bottom forces Mykhailo Drapaty was quoted as saying by the newspaper.”
The ‘Anne of Kiev’ Brigade has been criticized since its deployment to the entrance, with the Ukrainian Common Employees utilizing its troopers to ‘plug holes’ in different items.
“About 2,300 of the brigade’s troopers had been educated on French soil and outfitted with French VAB transport autos, AMX-10 tanks and Caesar self-propelled weapons, in addition to ammunition and anti-aircraft and anti-tank missiles. Emmanuel Macron had visited the troopers of the Ukrainian a hundred and fifty fifth Brigade in October 2024 throughout their coaching in France.”
Kyiv Post reported:
“In accordance with an article revealed by Ukrainska Pravda journal, one in every of Ukraine’s oldest and highest-standard information businesses, the just lately appointed commander of the a hundred and fifty fifth Brigade, Col. Taras Maksymov, in March 2025 conferences with the unit’s drone group advised soldier drone builders use their private cash to supply extra and higher drones, as a result of the navy was not offering enough funding.”
Maksymov activated a kickback scheme, funneling parts of soldier salaries into a bootleg slush fund managed by him, skimming over half the cash for themselves and their accomplices.
“Officers or troopers collaborating in such a scheme may, if discovered responsible, face penalties for theft of state funds for private acquire, conspiring to commit a criminal offense, procuring materials for the navy exterior of regulated means, and misdirection of Ukrainian troopers’ salaries. Worst-case jail sentences on most counts can be between two to 10 years’ imprisonment – per depend.”
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