“A hotline for servicemen of the 155th Brigade was launched at the command of the Ground Forces”, — write: www.radiosvoboda.org
He said that he spoke with the command of the unit and French journalists who visited the positions and talked with the fighters of the brigade.
The commander of the Ground Forces explained that the following problems occurred during the creation of the new brigade:
- improper management and control over the entire process;
- errors during staffing, and not always balanced decisions regarding the management of the personnel of the brigade;
- imperfect planning of training both in Ukraine and abroad;
- the high command’s reaction to the problems arising in the process of creation and acquisition of capabilities by the new combat unit of the Ground Forces was delayed.
“Despite all the difficulties, the brigade took the lane, performs combat tasks, holds positions, and at the same time – works on eliminating errors and improving combat capability. This happens in three directions: training and fighting spirit; software; management and manageability of personnel”, Mykhailo Drapaty noted.
Regarding the voluntary desertion of the military unit, Drapaty believes that this is the main challenge that the brigade faced due to the low efficiency and motivation of the middle-ranking commanders who directly manage the people.
“There is no simple recipe here – it is necessary to work on solving all the problematic moments that lead to SZH, not only in the Ground Forces, but in the Armed Forces as a whole. The number of SZH in the brigade will decrease in proportion to the decisions that will affect the combat capability and motivation of the personnel. This is a joint task of the authorities and the Defense Forces, and all those responsible have received instructions,” the commander emphasized.
Drapaty also promises to work on providing and training the brigade.
The situation in the 155th mechanized brigade became public on December 31, when journalist Yuriy Butusov wrote about it. According to him, even before the first battle, more than a thousand mobilized men voluntarily left the unit, the brigade commander was dismissed, and one of the leaders responsible for the formation of the brigade died of a heart attack.
Meanwhile, on January 6, the France-Presse agency, citing an official representative of the French army, reported that several dozen of over two thousand Ukrainian soldiers from the 155th “Anna of Kyiv” brigade deserted during training.
“There have been some desertions, but they remain very small considering the number of people who have been trained,” a French army official told the agency.
According to the results of the meeting with the commanders of the unmanned systems units, the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Oleksandr Syrskyi, said that “he paid special attention to building the capabilities of the unmanned systems unit of the 155th mechanized brigade, as well as problematic issues that need to be solved.” This was stated in his telegram post on January 5.
Syrskyi did not specify which problematic issues are being discussed.