“If it was a multiplied experience, it would be very important”, estimates a military historian

“A single brigade cannot make the difference, it can even be a little dangerous” estimates Cédric Mas on franceinfo on Wednesday. Presented as a showcase of French military doctrine, this brigade risks being specifically targeted, the expert fears.

“If it was a multiplied experience, it would be very important”estimates military historian Cédric Mas on Wednesday October 9 on franceinfo, referring to the Ukrainian brigade entirely trained by France. Emmanuel Macron went that same day to a military camp in the Grand Est, where the Army began training 2,300 soldiers from the 155th combined arms brigade. They will be equipped with “old armored front vehicles, Caesar cannons, AMX10-RC vehicles” of the French army.

According to him, the interest of this brigade is the fact of transmitting “know-how”. It is about “the handling but also the good tactical and operational use of this equipment”. “The equipment was designed for a military doctrine which is not the one on which the Ukrainian army executives, most of whom came from the schools of the former Soviet army, were trained”he recalls.

He notes that since the start of the conflict, “there is a problem with Ukrainian command, which does not have Western experience feedback, and combined arms combat with Western equipment”.

But Cédric Mas warns that“a single brigade cannot make the difference, it can even be a little dangerous”. When it is deployed to Ukraine, this brigade, “presented as a showcase of French military doctrine”, “risks being specifically targeted by the Russian army”Who “will take great pleasure in inflicting losses or perhaps even setbacks, to show that Western aid is useless”he predicts.

“This aid may come too late, if the brigade had been combat ready before the summer 2023 offensive, things might have happened differently and it is still too small”he laments, recalling that the Ukrainian army is made up of “80 brigades”.

This brigade does not mean a “involvement” of France on the war field alongside Ukraine, according to Cédric Mas, judging that “the red lines set by Vladimir Putin only have the importance we want to give them”.