Collected photo

KYIV, Ukraine, May 20, 2025 (BSS/AFP) - Ukraine's military told AFP on Tuesday it had launched another investigation into the scandal-hit "Anne of Kyiv" brigade, trained in France, after a media report alleged financial misconduct among some commanders.

The unit -- officially Ukraine's 155th Mechanised Brigade -- was supposed to be a flagship fighting force for Ukraine's army, announced by French President Emmanuel Macron as a symbol of tight cooperation between Kyiv and Paris.

But it has been plagued by scandals, including reports of equipment shortages, low morale and soldiers abandoning the unit on mass while undergoing training in France.

A spokesperson for Ukraine's land forces confirmed on Tuesday that a fresh investigation had been launched into the unit but declined to elaborate further.

The Ukrainska Pravda media outlet recently alleged that brigade commander Colonel Taras Maksimov had been possibly involved "in fictitious combat payments and extortion".

It also said the brigade had seen over 1,200 cases of soldiers going AWOL -- absent without leave.

"After the publication of the article in Ukrainska Pravda, I ordered an additional official inspection of the facts revealed by journalists," land forces commander Mykhailo Drapaty was cited as saying by the publication.

A spokesperson for the unit confirmed to AFP that an "inspection had been ordered".

Macron announced the creation of the Anne of Kyiv brigade -- named after a Medieval Kyiv princess who married into the French royal family -- during last year's commemorations of the 80th anniversary of the Normandy landings.

Paris hailed it as a "unique" initiative and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said he wanted to form a dozen other NATO-trained and equipped units.

Ukraine's military has been beset with corruption scandals -- ranging from weapons procurement to the falsification of draft exemption certificates -- since Russia invaded in February 2022.