The Ukrainian army trained in France was intended to be a flagship project. Now its former commander is out on $2.1 million bail.

• The former commander of the 155th Mechanized Brigade has been arrested, with bail set at $2.1 million.

• Col. Dmytro Ryumshin led the team of “Anne of Kyiv” until he suddenly stepped down in December.

• The unit was credited as having been trained in France but had faced reports of mass desertion before deployment.

The court in Kyiv released the bail of Col. Dmytro Ryumshin, the newly appointed commander of Ukraine’s 155th Mechanized Brigade, for $2.1 million.

His lawyer, Bohdan Zabara, told Ukrainian broadcaster Suspilne about the court’s decision on Wednesday.

It comes as Ukraine investigates a series of scandals that have marred the first combat of the 155th – a new group of soldiers lightly trained in France and armed with modern French weapons.

Named “Anne of Kyiv” after the 11th-century Kiev princess who became queen of France, it was said to be a way for Europe to directly support starving Ukrainian workers. But the reputation of this group is bad at home as local journalists report that it is constantly suffering from desertions and being split up to strengthen other units.

Another journalist, Yuriy Butusov, estimated that 1,700 men went AWOL before 155 were sent to the war, including about 50 men who left France.

Ryumshin oversaw the 155th as it prepared to be sent to the front lines, but suddenly announced his resignation in early December.

Federal investigators arrested him on Monday, accusing him of a “systematic cover-up” of deserting his troops. The State Bureau of Investigation said Ryumshin had received verbal and written reports of disciplinary problems, but had not notified higher authorities or acted on the information.

“Because of the actions of the commander, the law enforcement could not start the legal process to find and return the soldiers to their military units and keep the battalions, or in some cases, ensure that they serve their sentences for the crimes they committed,” the investigators said.

Ryumshin’s lawyer, Zabara, told Suspilne that the colonel would contest the bail amount set by Kyiv authorities. If he fails to meet bail, he must spend 60 days in custody before his trial.

Zabara did not respond to a request for comment sent outside regular business hours by Business Insider.

Meanwhile, the 155th’s social media accounts show that its men are now fighting near Pokrovsk, where Russia has been pushing slowly but relentlessly to capture the key town.

The Brigade is equipped with 18 AMX 10 armored vehicles, 18 truck-mounted Caesar howitzers, and 128 troop carriers. It enjoyed a high profile while being trained in France, when French President Emmanuel Macron met with his troops during an October visit.

And it seems that Europe is not done with these joint training programs. The European Union has allocated $425 million to train more Ukrainian soldiers until the end of 2026, including 15,000 in the winter of 2025.

But at home, the 155th’s reputation is still shaky. Some fighters and analysts in Ukraine believe it was a mistake for Kyiv to create brand new brigades like the 155 instead of replenishing older, more experienced units that were already fighting.

Serhii Sternenko, a well-known Ukrainian lawyer provides subsidized drones to military unitshe said his organization is helping 155 because the brigade does not officially have drones and jammers.

“Why create a new brigade when the existing brigades are understaffed, but then separate and transfer personnel to the old brigades? What’s the point?” he he wrote in early January on his Telegram channel.

As the 155th prepared to enter the fray, its men were often displaced by other brigades in greater need, leaving the French-trained force to return its soldiers to areas where they had not trained.

Sergey Filimonov, commander of Ukraine’s 108th Battalion, wrote on January 10 that he knew about “10 such groups operating under these conditions.”

He added that Western training methods, while provided to NATO troops, “often fail to keep up with the realities of modern warfare” in Ukraine.

“The realities of modern warfare show that foreign training, unless adapted to Ukrainian conditions and integrated with unit practices, is not only ineffective but dangerous,” he wrote in an opinion piece published by Ukraine Pravda.

Ukrainian leaders seem to be listening. Butusov, the journalist who broke the news about the abandonment of the 155th, reported on January 12 that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy ordered that all newly recruited soldiers be sent to existing brigades instead of being assigned to newly formed units.

The defense ministers of Ukraine and France did not respond to requests for comment sent outside regular business hours by BI.

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