Formation of new brigades has been suspended, and main efforts will be focused on reinforcing existing ones - Palisa
The formation of new brigades in the Defence Forces has been suspended
Pavlo Palisa, deputy head of the Office of the President of Ukraine and former commander of the 93rd Kholodny Yar Brigade, said this in an interview with We are Ukraine, Censor.NET reports.
According to Palisa, the main efforts will now be focused on manning the brigades that are already in place.
"The main efforts will now be focused on manning up the brigades that are already in place, those that are already working on the front line. In addition, those brigades that have already been formed or are in the final stages of formation will continue to be trained, again, taking into account the issues we had on previous occasions. This is all about the new units," he said.
Earlier, in one of his YouTube streams, Censor.NET Editor-in-Chief Yurii Butusov stated that President Volodymyr Zelenskyy had ordered the formation of new brigades to be stopped.
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 "Anne 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 systems. 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 faulty.
On 2 January, it became known that the State Bureau of Investigation had launched an investigation into mass AWOL in the 155th "Anne of Kyiv" Brigade following media reports. In turn, the French Ministry of Defence did not comment on the information that the 155th Anne 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 "Anne 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.
