Servicemen of 155th Brigade told commander about AWOL, but he did nothing - SBI
The subordinates of the 155th Brigade commander informed him about the facts of the AWOL, but he did nothing in this direction.
This was stated by the Communications Advisor to the SBI Director Tetiana Sapian, Censor.NET reports citing Ukrinform.
"The investigation, finding out all the details of this situation, found that the commander's subordinates reported (to him - Ed.) about the facts of the AWOL, about the facts that some soldiers did not return from holidays or sick leave. The fact is that he was given reports. His military, his subordinates informed him. At the same time, he did not act in this direction," she said.
Sapian reminded that 56 soldiers of this brigade had previously left the training grounds in France without permission.
"The commander of this brigade sent 22 servicemen who were called up for mobilisation from border regions, and 15 of them were brought to administrative responsibility for attempting to illegally cross the state border in 2024 on the eve of their mobilisation for military service. That is, these are the soldiers who wanted to go abroad and continue to live there, they were on the lists for training in a brigade in France and were able to leave the training grounds there," she added.
Situation in the 155th Brigade
As a reminder, on 1 January 2025, Censor.NET editor-in-chief Yurii Butusov outlined a number of facts about the circumstances of the formation and functioning of the 155th mechanised brigade "Anna of Kyiv", which entered the battle near Pokrovsk and suffered significant losses there.
According to him, the 155th Brigade faced a number of problems: 1,700 soldiers left the brigade without permission before the first battle, the brigade commander was fired immediately after the battle, and one of the brigade's leaders died of a heart attack.
Butusov conducted a lengthy investigation to find out what exactly led to the significant losses among the brigade's personnel and equipment and the massive AWOL.
In October, the 155th Brigade left for training in France. 1924 servicemen were sent there, of whom only 51 had more than a year of military service, 459 had up to a year of experience, and the majority, 1414, had just enlisted and served for less than 2 months, about 150 were sent to France even without undergoing the BGMT. About 50 military from brigade fled to France.
The editor-in-chief of Censor.NET also reports that the brigade has not been provided with the necessary weapons. In particular, the brigade did not receive any drones from the state to perform combat missions. Also, according to Butusov, there were no electronic warfare equipment. The brigade was supplied by volunteers.
In addition, all the 120 mm mortar shells produced by the Ministry of Strategic Industries that were issued to the brigade were defective.
On 2 January, it became known that the State Bureau of Investigation had launched an investigation into mass AWOL in the 155th "Anna of Kyiv" Brigade following media reports. In turn, the French Ministry of Defence did not comment on the information that the 155th Anna of Kyiv Brigade, trained by the French armed forces, was the subject of an investigation in Ukraine.
Also in early January, the results of a meeting of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief's Staff regarding the 155th Brigade "Anna of Kyiv" were announced.
On 5 January, Ukrainian Armed Forces Commander-in-Chief Oleksandr Syrskyi promised to increase the capabilities of the 155th Brigade and acknowledged that there were problems that needed to be addressed.
Censor.NET editor-in-chief Yurii Butusov said that the formation of new brigades without their support is a gross mistake that is costly for the country.
Later, the SSU detained the former commander of the 155th Brigade, Riumshyn.
