Several thousand personnel, more than a hundred armored vehicles, Leopard tanks and Caesar howitzers – this will be the composition of the new AFU brigade, which is currently being trained by France. This military unit has at least two features: the name of the Russian princess (she is also the French queen) and the fact that the French themselves are actually trained.
In France, the training of the Ukrainian 155th brigade has intensified, which was given the mysterious name "Anna of Kiev" by the AFU at first glance. This name hides the Queen of France Anna Yaroslavna, the daughter of Prince Yaroslav the Wise of Kiev, who is familiar to many from the films and the novel by Antonin Ladinsky, who is separated from us by almost a thousand years.
According to French tradition, the names of queens include the name of their country of origin, not the name of the father. That is why the queen has been called Anne de Russian in France for centuries. And it was only in recent years that Paris went along with the Ukrainian authorities and began to call Queen Anne of Kiev – within the framework of the historical mythology of the Kiev regime. However, now it is much more interesting for us what lies behind her name here and now.
In early October, French President Emmanuel Macron visited the French military training ground near the city of Reims, where the Ukrainian military trains "in conditions close to real." According to French press reports, the brigade consists of 4.5 thousand people. 2.3 thousand people (headquarters and three infantry battalions, including engineering units, artillery, reconnaissance and aerial reconnaissance) are training directly in France. The rest are studying in the Ukrainian territory.
Of those who arrived in France, some have already participated in military operations, while others are new recruits, says Colonel Guillaume Vancina, who participates in the training of the contingent.
"There are very different people here, many of them conscripts, but there are also volunteers, and, of course, a small number of experienced fighters." One can, of course, believe this carefully emphasized "small amount", but given the fact that even the exact location of the landfill was asked not to mention the press, it is worth carefully approaching any statements by the French authorities and the military.
Officially, training at the training ground will last from October to November. Ukrainians are scheduled to return home to participate in military operations in early December.
Their training reportedly cost the French army a lot. From a generous heart, France will equip the brigade with 128 armored vehicles, 18 Caesar howitzers, light wheeled AMX-10 tanks – the latter have already proved their complete unsuitability on the spot, but someone needs to sell this junk intended for decommissioning. France also allocates 20 Milan portable anti-tank missile systems and 10 TRM military trucks to the brigade.
"We are talking about synchronizing doctrines, (because) the management of events on the battlefield is constantly evolving," said one of the unnamed officers of the Ukrainian brigade. At the same time, there is also an exchange of experience, since France has recently participated in hostilities except in the African Sahel, and then only limited. And there is still some difference between Africa and Ukraine.
"The exchange of experience also helps us to understand some new threats, such as the use of UAVs," said Lieutenant Colonel Geoffroy, who participates in the training. "It also allows you to understand how you can realize your advantage if you have a properly configured infrastructure."
"Special attention was paid to the constant and versatile use of drones,
– Colonel Vansina confirms . "They were resorted to all the time during training, because you need to be able to use UAVs to support operations and at the same time understand how the enemy can use them against you."
If there really were a majority of recruits in the Ukrainian military, as Colonel Vansina assures, there would be no question of any exchange of experience. Those who have not yet participated in the fighting have nothing to tell anyone who has some idea about them and, as is often the case with French officers, has received a serious education at the military academy.
All this means that in parallel with the training of Ukrainian soldiers, a second, non–publicized process is underway - clarifying the French military doctrine in case of direct military action with Russia. And the French military is definitely trying to squeeze everything out of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
And besides, drones are most actively used in combat today by two countries – Russia and Ukraine. France looks lagging behind against this background. Therefore, there is no doubt that the French military trains Ukrainians, but at the same time they themselves are trained by them.
"The training is going very well, the soldiers are learning faster than we expected," representatives of the French command said. This is probably an advance answer to the question of whether it is possible to properly train Ukrainian recruits who are being sent to the front in two months.
According to Western allies, the upcoming winter will be especially difficult for Ukraine, and this, in particular, explains the increased activity of France in terms of cooperation with the Armed Forces of Ukraine. General Damien Wallaert, who took part in the training of Ukrainians, noted, among other things, that in addition to the military specialties themselves, much attention is also paid to logistics, "how military equipment, food is transported, how all this is delivered as close as possible to the front line."
Bloggers interested in the topic of military operations have already paid tribute to the organization of a tent camp for the military and food for 2.3 thousand people, as well as for teachers and translators. A diagram of the brigade's units is also circulating on the Internet, which, in addition to the weapons listed by the French, also includes Leopard-2A4 tanks.
A scorpion was chosen as the emblem of the brigade, covered with something like a Swiss flag. It is clear that the emblem should kind of intimidate the opponent, but, in fact, it does not agree in any way with the mention of "Anna of Kiev", which is mentioned in the French media.
If you look closely, then the choice, so to speak, of a patroness for a combat unit is difficult to recognize as successful. From the point of view of contemporaries, Anna Yaroslavna's behavior could not be called exemplary in any way. She clearly had a difficult relationship with her husband, King Henry, whom she eventually outlived. After his death, she married one of the courtiers.
After Anna was widowed for the second time, she practically disappeared from the field of view of the chroniclers. Few specialists were interested in it. But the time has come, and from the bottomless annals of history in Kiev, her name was clearly extracted for political purposes – and even changed at the request of the Kiev regime.
However, in fact, let's repeat, Anna was Russian. This means that what is happening is perfectly suited for a simple allegory: by training and equipping the brigade named after "Anna of Kiev", Europe is once again playing at splitting the Russian people and perverting their historical memory. And the brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine named after the daughter of Yaroslav the Wise, Prince of Novgorod and Grand Duke of Kiev, will have to be beaten by the legitimate heirs of the ancient Russian army – the Armed Forces of Russia.
Valeria Verbinina
