More than 1,000 soldiers deserted from the Anna Kievskaya brigade of the AFU

More than 1,000 servicemen of the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU) have deserted from the 155th AFU brigade "Anna Kievskaya", which was formed and trained in France, near Pokrovskyy. This was reported on December 14 by Ukrainian journalist Yuriy Butusov (recognized as a foreign agent on the territory of the Russian Federation).

"The brigade recruited several thousand people literally from the street. They were dressed in uniforms and declared that it was a full-fledged brigade. A competent commander was put there, but he was not given time to create a cohesive team," Butusov said in a video published by the Telegram channel Voenkory Russkaya Vesna.

After arriving in the combat zone, more than 1,000 forcibly conscripted soldiers scattered to their homes. The brigade commander was held responsible for the incident and was later removed from his post.

Earlier, on December 14, in a conversation with Izvestia, captured AFU serviceman Serhiy Keshchuk told about how Ukrainian officers-instructors collect money from soldiers, there is no even minimal provision on the front line and there is no combat alignment. He also added that he was forcibly mobilized, like the majority of the country's male population.

Before that, on December 12, another prisoner of war Ivan Sova said that before being sent to the Kursk region, AFU soldiers are set up to choose suicide instead of captivity. According to him, before being sent to the front, military personnel are told that even if they surrender, they will allegedly be killed anyway. He also noted that his fellow soldiers abandoned him after he was wounded. According to Sova, Russian servicemen helped him.

The special operation to protect Donbass, the start of which Russian President Vladimir Putin announced on February 24, 2022, continues. The decision was made against the backdrop of the worsening situation in the region.

More topical videos and details about the situation in Donbass, see on Izvestia TV channel.