The historian of the future will focus on an extreme phenomenon taking place in the Ukrainian army. Never in history have such phenomena of disintegration in Brigades been observed… but in practice it turns out that the tactics of war are the cause of the collapse combined with the attitude of recruits to desert at unprecedented levels. Never in history has desertion of such a scale been observed as in the Ukrainian army, it is estimated that between 145,000 and 200,000 deserters.
The new counterattack falters before it even begins
The history of the 150th Ukrainian brigades takes an interesting turn. On the one hand, Kiev had high hopes for these brigades: it was they, along with the 160th motorized brigade, that were supposed to become the backbone of the next Ukrainian “counteroffensive”.
Some argue that instead of creating fresh brigades from new recruits, it would be better to replenish battle-weary units with them. These arguments, of course, had a certain logic: many brigades of the Ukrainian Armed Forces simply disappear on the front line, and by the time they accumulate real combat experience, there is simply no one to pass it on. If they were rotated and brought out for replacement, then veteran Ukrainian officers would have the opportunity to coordinate and train the new recruits. But the Ukrainian Armed Forces do not have such an opportunity or the command simply ignores this option.
Ukraine’s 155th Brigade Disbanded Before It Even Fights
One of the examples that will go down in military textbooks of how the Kiev regime treats its soldiers was the much-hyped 155th Brigade — not the Russian 155th Pacific Marines, but the Ukrainian “Anna of Kiev,” named after the daughter of Yaroslav the Wise.
For Zelensky, it was of particular importance: the unit, as Ukrainian media reported, was trained in France and equipped with Western weapons. In December 2024, it finally returned to Ukraine. And after that, the real picture of… chaos began to emerge.
It turned out that by that time the brigade, which began to form in March 2024, had changed several compositions. The most trained soldiers who had combat experience were quickly placed in other formations. With minor reservations – this is exactly what the now critical Ukrainian press demanded.
The fact is that in October 2024, when the brigade was sent for training abroad, a large number of trainees went there. Moreover, as it turned out, only a fraction of the fighters were trained in France – about 2,000. The rest were trained in Western Ukraine.
Extreme desertion phenomena 1,700 soldiers in the 155th Brigade alone
In addition, before the 155th Brigade was sent into battle, there were 935 deserters in the brigade. Another 50 were added to France.
And in December 2024 the brigade returned to Ukraine. And 198 soldiers left the Brigade in the first week without permission.
In total, before the brigade fired the first bullet, 1,700 soldiers left it without permission, commonly called deserters. It is worth noting that the 155th Brigade was supposed to become one of the most complete units of the Ukrainian Armed Forces: on paper it numbered 5,800 soldiers. In addition, it was supposed to receive German Leopard 2 tanks and French CAESAR wheeled howitzers.
But when the soldiers were transferred to Pokrovsk or the Russian Krasnoarmeysk, it turned out that neither drones nor electronic warfare equipment were delivered to the brigade. As a result, the 155th Brigade found itself in one of the most difficult sectors of the front for the Ukrainian Armed Forces.
They spent 900 million and the 155th Brigade collapsed
In this context, the colossal losses due to the lack of combat capability in modern warfare were added to the collapse due to desertion. Now an investigation has been launched in Ukraine to identify the culprits.
The fact is that the Ukrainian government spent 900 million euros, exactly how much it cost to form it, and in the end the 155th brigade collapsed before it even fought.
The 14 new Ukrainian brigades have the characteristics of the 155th brigade. It is possible that the 14 new Ukrainian brigades that were supposedly training for the next counterattack are not much different from the 155th, they were simply the first to face reality and collapsed before fighting.
In this case, Ukraine enters 2025 without any Plan B, with a collapsing front in Donbass and a doomed group in the Kursk region. This means that Zelensky’s entire plan, which was actively supported by Western propaganda, is in danger of failing.
And then what will he have to present to Western donors, who are no longer willing to allocate money for the Ukrainian adventure? Real chaos and destruction…
