About 1,700 soldiers of Ukraine's Western-armed and French-trained unit went AWOL before the shots were fired.
At least 50 members of the new 155th mechanized brigade, one of the few to use the Leopard 2 battle tank, disappeared when parts of the brigade were drilled in France.
When it entered the war for the first time, at least 1,700 of its soldiers disappeared without leave in many places.
The mass exodus took place before the army was deployed to Pokrovsk, a key logistics base supporting Ukraine's defense against Russian advances in the eastern Donetsk region.
The Anne of Kyiv brigade had spent nine months training in western Ukraine, Poland and France
It entered the war in recent days, suffering heavy losses, reportedly including its tanks and armored vehicles.
It prompted the Ukrainian State Bureau of Investigations to investigate the alleged formation of 155.
This group, also known as Anne of Kyiv, was to have more than 5,800 soldiers and be equipped with the best equipment, including Leopard tanks and French Caesar 155mm howitzers.
Volodymyr Zelensky, the president of Ukraine, and Emmanuel Macron, his French counterpart, announced the 900-billion-dollar ($747 billion) project at an event marking the 80th anniversary of D-Day in June last year.
Volodymyr Zelensky and Emmanuel Macron announced a joint military project of 900 billion last June – Ludovic MARIN / AFP
The group had spent nine months training in western Ukraine, Poland and France as part of Mr Zelensky's effort to establish 14 new brigades equipped and trained by Western countries.
About 500 of them are still missing, it was reported as recently as November.
Yuriy Butusov, a Ukrainian military journalist, wrote: “This is indeed a crime, but the crime of not soldiers and officials – but the crime of the leaders of the high command, the Ministry of Defense and the general staff, who continue to waste their lives and public funds on new programs, instead of strengthening the brigade has experience and know how to fight.”
Analysts watching the conflict have questioned Kyiv's strategy of using new troops and equipment donations to build novice brigades rather than replenish the country's existing, war-torn forces.
In the report about the formation of 155, Mr. Butusov noted that it was full of problems from the offset.
The recruitment of this unit started in June last year but was interrupted because about 2,500 people were taken to fill other institutions before the training started.
1,924 volunteers had been sent to France, but it turned out that only 51 of them had more than a year of military experience.
Most (1,414) had enlisted in the Ukrainian military two months before being sent for overseas training.
The brigade was equipped with the best equipment including Leopard tanks – Fabian Bimmer/Getty Images
As the brigade trained in France, it continued to recruit, and more than 700 of those soldiers defected while occupying Ukrainian territory between October and November.
When the 155 was finally sent to Pokrovsk, it was not provided with any drones – the main method of reconnaissance on the battlefield – and jammers of electronic warfare by the government.
Serhii Sternenko, a Ukrainian social media activist and military fundraiser, said he recently sent supplies to the brigade in the absence of government supplies.
The brigade only received money from Kyiv for drones 10 days after entering the war.
“Because of this, the new Leopard-2A4 tanks and armored vehicles of the VAB lost during the first attempts to use them from the enemy's front,” wrote Mr. Butusov.
Colonel Dmytro Ryumshin was dismissed as the commander of this group a few days after it was sent to the front.
Bohdan Krotevych, the chief of staff of Ukraine's Azov Brigade, said: “Would it be stupid to create new brigades and equip them with such equipment, and have this one incomplete?”
Mr. Butusov added: “Employees of this group became hostages of Zelensky's PR project, which the authorities made no effort to use properly.”
The brigade was then effectively disbanded, and its elements were distributed and assigned to the stronger brigades already defending Pokrovsk.
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