| 155th Mechanized Brigade | |
|---|---|
| 155 окрема механізована бригада | |
 Shoulder sleeve insignia | |
| Active | March 1, 2024 – present |
| Country |  Ukraine |
| Branch |  Ukrainian Ground Forces |
| Type |  Mechanized Infantry |
| Size | 5,800[1] |
| Part of | Operational Command West |
| Garrison/HQ | Mala Lyubasha,Rivne Oblast |
| Nickname | Anne of Kyiv Brigade |
| Patron | Anne of Kyiv |
| Motto | They shall not pass |
| Engagements | |
| Website | Official Facebook page |
| Commanders | |
| Current commander | ColonelTaras Maksymov [uk][2] |
| Notable commanders | ColonelDmytro Ryumshin [uk] |
| Insignia | |
| Former insignia |  |
The155th Mechanized Brigade (Ukrainian:155 окрема механізована бригада) is a brigade of theUkrainian Ground Forces formed in 2024 and partially trained inFrance.[3] In January 2025, it became the subject of controversy after it was reported that around 1,700 members of the brigade had goneAWOL during its formation, which led to the arrest of the brigade commander.[4]
The 155th Infantry Brigade was formed in 2024 as part of an initiative to expand theUkrainian Ground Forces with the creation of nine additional brigades. This effort, announced by CommanderOleksandr Pavliuk, was a direct response to the ongoingRusso-Ukrainian war.[5] The brigade is known by the nickname "Anne of Kyiv" after the princess who married French KingHenry I atReims cathedral to becomeQueen of France from 1051 to 1060.[6][7]
The formation of the brigade began in March 2024.[8] The brigade was created under the provisions of a Ukrainian mobilization law, which lowered the draft age from 27 to 25 and introduced penalties for draft evasion.[9] The law also allowed convicts to join the armed forces.[9] The existence of the 155th Infantry Brigade was officially acknowledged on 8 May 2024, marking it as the first of the newly announced brigades to take shape.Rivne city council supported the brigade by donating equipment to meet the soldiers' needs during its early stages of formation.
The brigade was officially announced in France during the 80th anniversary of theD-Day landings attended by Ukrainian PresidentVolodymyr Zelensky on June 6, 2024.[10] By November 2024, the first wave of 2,000 soldiers had undergone training in eastern France (Camp de Châlons[11]), with plans for the brigade to eventually grow to a strength of 4,500 troops.[3] Its training and equipping were carried out under a European Union-funded program that had already trained 60,000 Ukrainian troops. France played a pivotal role, providing extensive training, equipment, and weaponry.[6] This included 18CAESAR self-propelled howitzers, 18AMX-10RC armored fighting vehicles, and 128VAB armored personnel carriers.[12] In October, the brigade was visited and inspected by French PresidentEmmanuel Macron.[13] The brigade returned to Ukraine in November, along with its integralLeopard 2A4-based tank battalion trained in Poland.[citation needed]
In November 2024,[14] the 155th Brigade was deployed south ofPokrovsk to help hold positions includingShevchenko.[15] It reportedly suffered heavy losses during its first few days of combat.[16] It had been split and its elements assigned to the experienced brigades fighting in the same area, the25th Airborne Brigade and the68th Jaeger Brigade.[10]
On 14 December, Ukrainian journalistYuri Butusov brought attention to the problems within the brigade in a report on his YouTube channel, which was followed up with an article published on 31 December 2024.[1][17][18] According to this article, the brigade had suffered from serious organizational problems since its inception.Operational Command West, responsible for the formation of the brigade, lacked the resources, manpower and command staff needed to create a new unit. The manning of the brigade started only in June, but in July and August more than 2,550 soldiers were taken away to replenish other units, effectively negating four months of work. By the time the brigade was sent to France for training in October, there were 935 instances of soldiers beingAWOL, and 50 soldiers are known to have deserted in France.[8]
The latter raised questions among the French leadership, which prompted the UkrainianStavka to launch an investigation by the UkrainianSBI to determine who is responsible for the desertions. As a result, the brigade commander, Colonel Dmytro Ryumshin, was removed from his post just days after returning from France on November 30 (other sources state that Ryumshin left command on December 12). While the brigade command was in France, 700 more newly recruited men stationed in Ukraine went AWOL without ever seeing their commanders. After the removal of the commander, the Ukrainian commander-in-chiefOleksandr Syrskyi sent a commission consisting of the OC West commanderVolodymyr Shvediuk [uk] and chief of staffOleksandr Seletsky [uk] to improve the combat effectiveness of the brigade. On 30 December, Seletsky died, reportedly from a heart attack. Additional 198 men went AWOL during the first week of December.[8] TheKyiv Post reported that by 4 January 2025, the brigade had reassigned all of itsCAESAR self-propelled howitzers, most of itsVAB APCs, and a portion of itsLeopard 2 tanks to other Ukrainian formations.[19]
The Ukrainian General Staff reported on 7 January that the 155th Mechanized Brigade was conducting combat operations on the Pokrovsk front, having been reinforced with drones and additional equipment. Measures had been taken to improve discipline and reduce desertions.[20]Major GeneralMykhailo Drapatiy, Commander of the Ukrainian Ground Forces, admitted on 8 January that the problems in the 155th Brigade were real, but that he was confident the brigade would become combat-effective.[21]Commander-in-Chief Oleksandr Syrskyi visited the positions of the 155th Brigade on the Pokrovsk front on 23 January and said that the situation in the brigade was gradually improving after reports of desertions, poor command and training.[22][23]
In February 2025 the 155th Brigade was still deployed south of Pokrovsk.[24]In an interview on 5 March an officer of the Brigade claimed that they continued to hold the north-western part ofShevchenko and that the Russians were unable to break through the Ukrainian defences due to the significant losses inflicted by the brigade.[25]By 14 March, Ukrainian forces had reportedly gradually regained control of settlements near Pokrovsk, with the 155th Brigade supporting the425th Separate Assault Regiment in recapturing part, if not most, ofShevchenko.[26]
On 20 January 2025, former brigade commander Dmytro Ryumshin was detained by the SBI and charged with inaction of the military authorities committed under martial law, which is punishable by imprisonment for up to 10 years. The SBI stated that Ryumshin failed to inform law enforcement authorities of a significant number of AWOL cases and didn't take measures to prevent them. In particular, the colonel unreasonably included unmotivated men in the lists of persons scheduled for training in France, some of whom were previously detained for trying to illegally cross the border of Ukraine.[27] On 6 February 2025, Ryumshin's bail was reduced from 90 millionhryvnias (2,160,980USD) to 50 million hryvnias (1,200,540 USD).[28]
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The brigade's structure was as follows:
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1Unless stated otherwise, the brigade is mechanized. | |||||||||||||||||
