Ukraine's French-trained brigade was meant to be a flagship project. Now its ex-commander is on bail for $2.1 million.
The ex-commander of the 155th Mechanized Brigade has been arrested, with bail set at $2.1 million.Col. Dmytro Ryumshin led the "Anne of Kyiv" brigade until stepping down abruptly in December.The unit was hyped as French-trained but has faced reports of mass desertion before deploying.A court in Kyiv has set bail for Col. Dmytro Ryumshin, the recently replaced commander of Ukraine's 155th Mechanized Brigade, at $2.1 million.His lawyer, Bohdan Zabara, told Ukrainian broadcaster Suspilne of the court's decision on Wednesday.It comes as Ukraine probes a series of scandals that have marred the combat debut of the 155th a new brigade partially trained in France and equipped with modern French weaponry.Nicknamed "Anne of Kyiv" after an 11th-century Kyiv princess who became a French queen, it was touted as a way for Europe to directly strengthen Ukraine's starved manpower. But the brigade's reputation soured at home as local journalists reported that it continually suffered from mass desertion and was being picked apart to reinforce other units.One reporter, Yuriy Butusov, estimated that 1,700 men had gone AWOL before the 155th was sent into battle, including about 50 men who deserted in France.Ryumshin oversaw the 155th as it prepared to deploy on the front lines, but suddenly announced his resignation in early December.Federal investigatorsarrestedhim on Monday, accusing him of the "systematic concealment" of desertion among his troops. The State Bureau of Investigation said Ryumshin received both verbal and written reports of discipline issues, but had neither notified higher authorities nor acted upon this information."Due to the commander's actions, law enforcement officers were unable to initiate the legal procedure to search for and return servicemen to their military unit and reserve battalions, or in some cases, ensure that they served their sentences for the crimes they committed," the investigators said.Ryumshin's lawyer, Zabara, told Suspilne that the colonel would contest the bail amount set by authorities in Kyiv. Should he fail to meet bail, he must serve 60 days in detention before his closed-door hearing.Zabara did not respond to a comment request sent outside regular business hours by Business Insider.Meanwhile, the 155th's social media accounts show that its men are now fighting around Pokrovsk, where Russia has been pushing slowly but relentlessly to capture the key strategic city.The brigade is equipped with 18 AMX 10 armored vehicles, 18 truck-mounted Caesar howitzers, and 128 armored troop carriers. It enjoyed a relatively high profile while training in France, with French President Emmanuel Macron meeting its troops during an October visit.And it looks like Europe isn't done with these joint training programs. The European Union has allocated $425 million to training more Ukrainian soldiers until the end of 2026, including 15,000 by the winter of 2025.But at home, the 155th's reputation is still shaky. Some fighters and analysts in Ukraine believe it was a mistake for Kyiv to make brand-new brigades like the 155th instead of replenishing older, more experienced units that were already fighting.Serhii Sternenko, a well-known Ukrainian lawyer who provides crowdfunded drones to military units, said his organization was assisting the 155th because the brigade lacked officially provided drones and jammers."Why create a new brigade when existing brigades are critically understaffed, only to later divide it and transfer personnel to the old brigades? What's the point?" he wrote in early January on his Telegram channel.As the 155th geared up to enter the fray, its men were also often siphoned off by other brigades in desperate need, leaving the French-trained force to haphazardly reassign its troops to positions they didn't train for.Sergey Filimonov, commander of Ukraine's 108th Battalion, wrote on January 10 that he knew of about "10 such brigades operating under these conditions."He added that Western training methods, while provided by NATO troops, "often fail to align with the realities of modern warfare" in Ukraine."The realities of modern warfare show that foreign training, unless adapted to Ukrainian conditions and integrated with unit practices, is not only ineffective but dangerous," he wrote in an opinion piece published by Ukrainska Pravda.Ukrainian leaders appear to be listening. Butusov, the journalist who broke the news about desertion in the 155th, reported on January 12 that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy had ordered for all freshly mobilized troops to be sent to existing brigades instead of being assigned to newly formed units.The Ukrainian and French defense ministries did not respond to comment requests sent outside regular business hours by BI.
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