After Anne de Kiev Brigade, France Will Train and Equip Another Brigade for Ukraine
Ukraine’s deterrence capabilities continue to grow.
The West continues to stumble in its plan to extend NATO’s coverage over Ukraine by bringing the country into the alliance. This effort has faced constant setbacks for years, and the ongoing two-and-a-half-year war has done little to alter that. In fact, NATO needs Ukraine more than Ukraine needs NATO. If Russia is indeed NATO’s greatest threat in the 21st century, then including the country most experienced in fighting them should be an obvious choice.
Yet, we seem remarkably skilled at making hare-brained decisions. Nevertheless, the West has also made notable strides this year. Near the top of that list, right alongside Germany's efforts to ramp up crucial military aid to Ukraine, is France's commitment to training and equipping Ukrainian brigades.
After completing the training of the Anne de Kiev Brigade—a force of 4,500 troops fully equipped with French weapons—France recently announced plans to train and equip an additional brigade.
Yesterday, Zelensky announced that more brigades are set to roll out with the support of various European partners.
“We’re now in the third year of full-scale war, and our soldiers on the front lines need renewed strength. That’s why we are urgently working to equip our brigades. We are already partnering with others—France has equipped one brigade, and we have an agreement for another. We invite you to join us in building Scandinavian brigades, demonstrating your continued commitment to Europe’s defense”.
All three Scandinavian countries are actively supporting Ukraine, and from the way Zelensky phrased his comments, it seems likely that Denmark, Sweden, and Norway may be collaborating to train and equip Ukrainian brigades. This is a welcome development; however, I believe this responsibility would ideally be led by the "big three"—Germany, France, and Great Britain.
These three nations not only have the capacity to provide thorough training but also possess the necessary weaponry to fully equip the brigades they train.
When Ukraine and France announced in early October that the Anne de Kiev Brigade was nearing the final stages of its training, I suggested that this kind of cooperation should become a consistent effort.
A fully mechanized brigade can cost between $1 billion and $3 billion, depending on the equipment it carries. An air-defense brigade might range from $2 billion to $3 billion, while an electronic warfare brigade would cost slightly less. On average, we can estimate around $3 billion for each brigade.
If the “big four” nations (the United States, France, Germany, and Britain) commit to train and equip just one brigade each every six months, Ukraine could receive up to eight brigades within 12 months. For each country, this would amount to a total cost of approximately $6 billion. However, the training capacity itself would serve as a powerful deterrent to Putin’s war plans.
France has assembled a special task force of 1,500 soldiers from its ground forces to train Ukrainian troops in eastern France. This is the team that trained the Anne de Kiev Brigade and will train the next brigade as well. This is the kind of capacity I’m referring to. I believe the training for Ukrainian forces began around June this year, and the brigade is expected to join the front lines in early December.
France has now established the capacity to train and equip two full Ukrainian brigades each year. Funding doesn’t appear to be a limiting factor for the West or for Ukraine; instead, the questions are about the capacity and the willingness to sustain this effort. France and the Scandinavian countries have already stepped up. If Germany and Great Britain quickly move to establish their own training capacities, Ukraine could feasibly develop at least one brigade every two months going forward.
The Anne de Kyiv Brigade is a formidable force. Military blogger Astraia Intel reported that this brigade has been built from the ground up as a counterattacking unit.
“The newly established 155th "Anne de Kyiv" brigade—in large equipped by the Republic of France—to be a well-balanced, highly mobile, and versatile mechanized unit with considerable firepower. Judging by its composition, the brigade appears heavily oriented towards offensive operations. It is a highly maneuverable unit on the "expensive" side that could potentially create and exploit breakthroughs in depth when the conditions to do so are met.
The emphasis on offensive capability is evident in its mix of tanks, armored vehicles, mechanized infantry, long-range artillery and specialized reconnaissance vehicles (in the form of AMX-10RCs, as per French tradition). Such an array would be extremely excessive if the primary role were simply to hold defensive positions. This is by all means an elite formation similar to the 47th”.
Given the dire state of the Russian economy, Putin will not be able to match the combat power these brigades bring. This is deterrence. This is how you prevent a war before it even begins.
