According to the Prosecutor General’s Office of Ukraine, more than 100,000 soldiers have deserted since the Russian invasion in February 2022, Polish news outlet Do Rceczy reports.
Desertions in 2024 have reached twice the level of 2022 and 2023 combined, although this number may be much higher. One official familiar with military affairs estimated it could be as high as 200,000.
The front has suffered in particular due to deserters, who are most often recently recruited men. In September, the Ukrainian military reported a deficit of 4,000 soldiers on the front, mostly due to deaths, injuries, and desertions.
“The worst thing is that they leave combat positions during warfare, and their comrades die because of it. We had several situations when units fled, small or large. They exposed their flanks, and the enemy came to these flanks and killed their comrades-in-arms because those who were standing in positions did not know that there was no one else nearby,” said one of the Ukrainian commanders.
That was how, in a matter of weeks in October, Vuhledar (Ugledar), a small city that Ukraine had defended for two years, was lost.
“This problem is critical. This is the third year of the war and this problem will only get worse,” said Oleksandr Kowalenko, a Kyiv-based military analyst.
One Polish official has also said that Ukrainians are also fleeing Polish training centers, 12 every month.
Those deserting are also exposing deep-rooted problems plaguing their military and the way Ukraine is fighting the war that have led to so many men leaving, including flawed mobilizations to overstretching front-line units. Meanwhile, the U.S. is calling on Ukraine to draft more soldiers and allow conscription as young as 18.
