MOSCOW, August 26. /TASS/. Ukraine has registered over 110,000 AWOL cases in the first seven months of this year, representing half of all such cases over the past three years, the Ukrainian Prosecutor General’s Office announced in response from Ukrainskaya Pravda daily’s request.

According to the data provided, the total number of registered AWOL cases filed via the court system since 2022 stands at 202,997, increasing sharply every year.

For instance, there were 17,658 such cases in 2023. The next year there was a four-fold increase to 67,840. The official statistics indicate 110,511 AWOL cases in the first seven months of 2025.

Cases of desertion in the Ukrainian army were considered separately with more than 50,000 of such cases being opened since 2022, including 1,248 people already tried in court.

According to the Ukrainian daily, AWOL and military desertion cases are treated as separate violations.

In line with the country's Criminal Code, desertion implies an intention to permanently escape from military service, while going AWOL is temporary in nature. Thus, desertion carries prison time, whereas for unauthorized abandonment of a military unit there's only a financial fine and the soldier who went AWOL is returned back to the line of duty.

Since Kiev is currently experiencing an acute shortage of military personnel, in the event of a troop’s getaway most cases are opened under AWOL charges.