A brigade idealized by French President Emmanuel Macron and Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelensky, trained and equipped in France, has become an endless source of scandal.
Ukrainian and French media report on the mass desertion in the 155th Ukrainian mechanized brigade ‘Anne de Kyiv’, where almost a quarter has deserted.
Le Figaro reported (translated from the French):
“This unit was intended to be a successful combat force of the Ukrainian army. But since its deployment to the front, it has been multiplying controversies over equipment shortages, including drones, and mass abandonment of posts among its soldiers.
The Ukrainian army announced on Tuesday, May 20, 2025, that it was launching an inspection of the “Anne of Kiev” brigade, trained and equipped by France to support Ukraine in the face of the Russian invasion, but which has been at the heart of scandals concerning embezzlement and desertions for months.”
The brigade was hailed by Macron and Zelensky as ‘a symbol of military cooperation between Kyiv and Paris’.
Ukrainian magazine Ukrainska Pravda revealed on Monday (19) that Colonel Tarass Maksimov was involved in a case of false payments and extortion of money from his troops.
“The brigade is also facing some 1,200 abandonments of posts, while its numbers include less than 5,000 soldiers, about half of whom were trained in France. ‘After the publication of the article in Ukrainska Pravda, I ordered an additional official inspection of the facts revealed by the journalists’, the commander of the ground forces Mykhailo Drapaty was quoted as saying by the newspaper.”
The ‘Anne of Kiev’ Brigade has been criticized since its deployment to the front, with the Ukrainian General Staff using its soldiers to ‘plug holes’ in other units.
“About 2,300 of the brigade’s soldiers were trained on French soil and equipped with French VAB transport vehicles, AMX-10 tanks and Caesar self-propelled guns, as well as ammunition and anti-aircraft and anti-tank missiles. Emmanuel Macron had visited the soldiers of the Ukrainian 155th Brigade in October 2024 during their training in France.”
Kyiv Post reported:
“According to an article published by Ukrainska Pravda magazine, one of Ukraine’s oldest and highest-standard news agencies, the recently appointed commander of the 155th Brigade, Col. Taras Maksymov, in March 2025 meetings with the unit’s drone team suggested soldier drone builders use their personal money to produce more and better drones, because the military was not providing sufficient funding.”
Maksymov activated a kickback scheme, funneling portions of soldier salaries into an illicit slush fund controlled by him, skimming over half the money for themselves and their accomplices.
“Officers or soldiers participating in such a scheme could, if found guilty, face penalties for theft of state funds for personal gain, conspiring to commit a crime, procuring material for the military outside of regulated means, and misdirection of Ukrainian soldiers’ salaries. Worst-case prison sentences on most counts would be between two to ten years’ imprisonment – per count.”
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