Ukraine formed a powerful new brigade. But they could be missing drones.

One of the Ukrainian army’s newest brigades has arrived in Ukraine after nearly three months of training in Poland and France. The 155th Mechanized Brigade is perhaps the best – and certainly the most heavily armed – of the dozens of new brigades that the Ukrainian armed forces have formed in recent months.

But that doesn’t mean the 155th Mechanized Brigade is ready for battle. Critical equipment may be missing.

Following a first round of expansion following Russia’s broader invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Ukraine’s ground forces – the army, air assault forces, marine corps, national guard and territorial forces – were able to deploy a hundred brigades, each with around 2,000 troops.

It was one of the largest active land forces in the world – and that wasn’t enough. The best Ukrainian brigades were outnumbered and outnumbered by the Russian army and overextended along the 800-mile front line of the broader war. They were never given the opportunity to retreat for rest and sustenance.

The elite 47th Mechanized Brigade, the main user of U.S.-made Ukrainian armored vehicles, was locked in a bloody battle for 15 months before finally disappearing from the front lines this fall — but even this late break came to an abrupt end with the Ukrainian invasion of Kursk Oblast in Western Russia brought the brigade back into action.

Meanwhile, in the southern Donetsk Oblast of eastern Ukraine, the 72nd Mechanized Brigade spent two years defending the fortress city of Vuhledar. Grounded and desperate for help that never came, the brigade finally withdrew in September, surrendering a key sector to the attacking Russians.

Ukraine’s war-weary brigades need help. Four new army brigades formed in late 2023 provided only partial relief. From this spring the army consisted of another seven brigades. Due to a shortage of heavy armored vehicles, most new units were initially infantry brigades – and only later received vehicles… and new names.

The 155th Mechanized Brigade was formed in May. But it existed largely on paper until September, when 2,300 Ukrainian soldiers – most of the new brigade – flew to France and began training alongside 1,500 French army instructors. At the same time, a few hundred soldiers from the tank battalion of the 155th Mechanized Brigade arrived in Poland to train with the Polish Army.

The French equipped the 155th Mechanized Brigade with Caesar self-propelled howitzers, AMX-10RC reconnaissance vehicles and heavy mortars. The Poles handed over 31 Leopard 2A4 tanks, apparently from Spanish surplus stocks.

The 155th Mechanized Brigade is not the best equipped Ukrainian brigade, but it is in the highest level. And it should be able to trade places with the 47th Mechanized Brigade or another depleted heavy brigade. The 155th Mechanized Brigade “is one of the important operational reserves of our country”, commented Yuriy Butusov, the famous Ukrainian war correspondent.

But due to funding shortages in Kiev, the brigade has a lack of drones and anti-drone radio jammers, according to Butusov. That’s a problem. Small drones are the main surveillance and attack tools on both sides of the broader war.

As much as the older Ukrainian brigades need help, it would be military malpractice for the 155th Mechanized Brigade to enter the battle without drones or defenses. in return for drones. Butusov is raising money to purchase the missing equipment so that the 155th Mechanized Brigade can soon be fully equipped and ready for action.

But the shortage, however temporary, is ominous. In the 33 months since the Russians attacked, Ukraine has vastly expanded its production of drones and jammers. But just as the addition of dozens of new brigades has not met Ukraine’s frontline needs, the million or more drones the land that builds every year is also not enough.

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