France recognized the desertion of soldiers of the elite brigade of the AFU "Anna Kievskaya"
- Новости
- World
- France recognized the desertion of soldiers of the elite brigade of the AFU "Anna Kievskaya"
The French Defence Ministry has confirmed that several dozen Ukrainian soldiers from the Ukrainian Armed Forces' (AFU) Anna Kievska brigade deserted during an exercise on French territory. This was reported by the AFP news agency on January 6, citing the French command.
"There were a certain number of desertions, but they remain very insignificant, given the number of people trained," a French army spokesman told AFP.
He also noted that soldiers had the right to leave their barracks. According to the agency's interlocutor, desertion is not criminalized in France and is not punishable.
Earlier, on January 1, the mechanized 155th brigade of the AFU, which was recently formed and equipped with military equipment, began to disintegrate even before it arrived at the front line near Krasnoarmeysk (Ukrainian name - Pokrovsk).
Before that, on December 31, 2024, Ukrainian journalist Yuriy Butusov (recognized as a foreign agent on the territory of the Russian Federation) also reported that the number of desertions from the 155th brigade of the AFU "Anna Kievskaya" formed and trained in France is increasing. Butusov added that already at the time of sending the brigade for training in France, 935 cases of unauthorized abandonment of the unit had been detected.
On the same day, Die Welt reported that the AFU fighters are losing motivation and desertion in their ranks is increasing. The piece noted that with such trends, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky (term of office expired May 20, 2024) will be forced to abandon the territories for a ceasefire.
Special operation to protect Donbass, the beginning of which Russian President Vladimir Putin announced on February 24, 2022, continues. The decision was taken against the backdrop of the aggravated situation in the region.
Переведено сервисом «Яндекс Переводчик»
