Tag: ukraine

The Ukrainian military is being starved of personnel not just by battlefield losses, but by a massive and growing wave of desertions as soldiers vote with their feet to escape a conflict they see as hopeless.

Since the full-scale invasion began in 2022, prosecutors have opened more than 253,000 criminal cases for unauthorized abandonment of units and desertion, according to official data from the Prosecutor General’s Office.. This crisis of morale is severely undermining military capabilities and highlights a population that is increasingly unwilling to fight, with the problem accelerating so dramatically that by mid-2025, nearly 576 soldiers were leaving their posts every single day.

The scale of the problem is immense. Official data from the Prosecutor General’s Office shows 202,997 criminal cases were initiated for unauthorized abandonment, often called AWOL, from 2022 through July 2025. During that same period, an additional 50,058 cases were opened for the more serious charge of desertion. The trend is sharply upward, with annual abandonment cases exploding from 7,000 in 2022 to 105,500 in just the first seven months of 2025.

This year alone, the number of criminal cases involving deserters has increased almost fivefold and may reach as many as 300,000, according to MP Oleksiy Honcharenko. The monthly numbers are consistently dire, with between 14,000 and 18,000 cases of unauthorized abandonment recorded regularly. This mass exodus is creating a critical shortage of trained personnel on the front lines, directly disrupting battle strategies and defense capabilities.

A crisis of morale and manpower

The reasons soldiers are abandoning their posts are not rooted in a lack of courage but in a breakdown of conditions and hope. Reports from within the military structure point to the incompetence of some officers and a crippling lack of rotation and leave, which prevents exhausted soldiers from resting or contacting their families. One deserter named Viktor, who had volunteered early in the war, explained his disillusionment, stating, “I realized I’m nobody. Just a number.”

Another soldier, Oleksii, who went into hiding after serving on the front lines, summarized a feeling many may share, saying, “The longer the war goes on, the more people like me there will be.” For these individuals, the choice becomes one of survival, with many believing that even a potential prison sentence is a preferable option to the near-certain death and endless hardship of combat.

Ukraine’s first military ombudsperson, Olha Reshetylova, confirmed the gravity of the situation. “Let’s be honest. The problem is big,” she said. “It’s natural in a situation where you’ve had three years of major war. People are exhausted.” She added that the state cannot solve the problem with criminal punishment alone, acknowledging, “If it comes to a choice between being killed and going to prison, of course at that moment you will go with the second option.”

Keep reading

Young men are running for their lives.

As the winter approaches in Ukraine – with the terrifying prospect of blackouts and power outages disrupting heating in homes – a huge number of young men are watching the tragedy unfold from safe places, far away from the war.

With the catastrophic number of dead and seriously injured, the ever-growing ‘army’ of deserters and the ghost citizens hiding in their houses from mobilization, the lack of troops has become the main problem affecting the Ukrainian war effort – even more than the lack of weapons, ammo, planes, drones and missiles.

To make things even worse, almost 100,000 fighting-age Ukrainian men have left the country in the past two months, after the Kiev regime eased departure rules for citizens between 18 and 22 years old.

The Telegraph reported:

“Poland’s border guard said 99,000 Ukrainian men aged between 18 and 22 had crossed the frontier – the primary route out of the country – since regulations to ensure that Kyiv had enough soldiers were relaxed at the end of August. In comparison, the entire British Army has around 70,000 personnel.”

Since the beginning of the war, martial law blocked Ukrainian men aged from 18 to 60 from leaving the country.

But, in the fourth year of fighting, Kiev regime leader Volodymyr Zelensky signed a new rule that permits Ukrainian men to travel abroad before they reach 23.

“The move was part of a shift in conscription policy, which lowered the age at which men were obliged to fight from 27 to 25 because of mounting concerns over manpower shortages on the front lines.

By granting young Ukrainians more freedoms to leave, it was hoped more would return and volunteer to fight at a later date.”

Keep reading

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Tuesday that he needs European financial support to fight Russia for another two or three years as the war continues to rage.

“I emphasized this again to all European leaders. I told them that we are not going to fight for decades, but you must show that for some time you will be able to provide stable financial support to Ukraine,” Zelensky said, according to AFP.

“And that is why they have this program in mind – two to three years,” he added, referring to an EU plan to fund Ukraine for a few years using frozen Russian assets. Zelensky said the funds would either be spent on reconstruction or on more weapons.

“If the war ends in a month, we will spend this money on recovery. If it does not end in a month, but after some time, then we will spend it on weapons. We simply have no other choice,” the Ukrainian leader said.

Under a new NATO scheme, known as the Prioritized Ukraine Requirements List) initiative, the US’s European allies are committing to purchase American-made weapons for Ukraine, though military aid to the country has dropped significantly since the program was launched, according to a report from the Kiel Institute.

Zelensky also acknowledged on Tuesday that Russian troops have entered the city of Pokrovsk in Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk Oblast, which Russian forces have been pushing towards for months. “Around 200 Russians are located there in various places – we see this from drones. Pokrovsk is currently the main target for the Russians,” he said.

Keep reading

The cauldron is boiling.

After months of fighting, the Donetsk bastion of Pokrovsky has been encircled and put in a ‘Cauldron’, and the final Stages of the Battle for Krasnoarmeysk (Russian name) is ongoing.

And, unless the Ukrainian command acts fast, 10,000 Kiev troops are about to be completely encircled.

We have been reporting on the battle for Pokrovsk, as you can read (from July) Russians Conquer a Dozen Settlements in a Week – In Eastern Donetsk, Northern Kharkov and Southern Zaporozhie – Moscow Forces Encircle Key Ukrainian Stronghold Pokrovsk (VIDEOS);

and SIEGE OF POKROVSK: Russian Forces Encircle Key Stronghold, Reach Its Outskirts – City is a Key Logistics Hub and the Last Fortified Bastion Before the Dnieper River (VIDEOS).

The Russian Tsentr (Center) group is leading the final assault for the key Pokrovsk-Mirnograd agglomeration.

Ukrainian forces are rapidly approaching a critical situation, and their defense has s become scattered.

Clearing operations are underway south of the railway.

Importantly, Pokrovsk is cut off from supplies. The E-50 highway to Pavlograd is under dense fire control by the Russians.

Keep reading