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Around 17,000 Ukrainian soldiers desert army every month

In all, according to the State Bureau of Investigation, some 107,000 desertion and AWOL cases have been probed into

MOSCOW, May 30. /TASS/. Around 17,000 Ukrainian soldiers desert their army units every month, with nearly 107,000 official desertion cases reported since the start of fighting, according to TASS calculations based on data from Ukraine’s State Bureau of Investigation.

As many as 60,164 AWOL (absent without leave) cases and 9,332 desertion cases were reported in the period from January 1, 2025 to April 30, 2025, or around 15,000 AWOL and 1,500-2,000 desertion cases a month.

Ukrainian laws discriminated between desertion and AWOL cases, defining desertion as the intention to leave army service for good and absence without leave - for a certain period of time. Hence, desertion is punishable by prison time while those absent without leave are fined and sent back to the army. Since Kiev is faced with an acute shortage of military personnel, most cases are opened on AWOL charges, regardless of how long such "absences" last.

In all, according to the State Bureau of Investigation, some 107,000 desertion and AWOL cases have been probed into.

However, no charges are brought and no verdicts are delivered in such cases. Thus, 93 AWOL charges were filed and 61 verdicts were returned in January 2025. The figures stood at 170 and 60, respectively, in February, at 540 and 75 in March, and at 783 and 78 in April.

As for desertion, in January charges were levied in ten cases and verdicts were handed down in 13 cases (including criminal cases opened before January 1, 2025). In February, charges were filed in seven cases and verdicts were returned in eight cases. In March, the figures were six and ten respectively, and in April - nine and 13.

Statistics indicate that such cases are brought to court quite rarely, which may be a sign either of problems with the search for the suspects or that the deserters may have been forcibly returned to the army as part of pre-trial proceedings, which can be done under a law allowing servicemen who went AWOL to voluntarily return to the army. So, only cases of recurrent desertion or desertion accompanied by other crimes make it to court.

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