Oleg Petrasyuk/EPA
Number provided by the Prosecutor General of Ukraine. And the country “desperately” needs more soldiers to fight the Russians.
A Ukraine needed to have more soldiers already guerra with the Russia, mass desertion It’s not helping.
Since the war began almost three years ago, more than 100,000 Ukrainian soldiers desertedadmitted the Prosecutor General of Ukraine. Almost half defected throughout 2024.
This at a time when Kiev needs “desperately” of reinforcements on the ground at a crucial stage of the war, says the channel.
The soldiers would be fed up with the conditions very bad. Tired, bereft, found a way to to escape of the war and are still hidden – and accused of desertion by the Ukrainian justice system.
Entire units abandoned their posts; thus the Russians gained territorial advantage in several posts.
Some of the deserters, traumatized or unmotivated, present sick leave – and never come back.
There are also soldiers who enter conflict with the commanders. They even refuse to follow orders from their superiors… during shootings.
“The main thing is that they abandon combat positions during hostilities and their comrades die because of this. We had several situations where units fled, small or large. They exposed their flanks and the enemy reached those flanks and killed their brothers in arms, because those who remained in positions did not know that there was no one else around”, described a Ukrainian officer.
“This problem is critical”, said Oleksandr Kovalenko, a Kiev-based military analyst.
The percentage of deserters has increased significantly month after month.
A Ukrainian soldier warns: “This is the third year of war and the problem will only increase“.
But an officer notices the deserters: “At this stage, I don’t condemn any of the soldiers in my battalion and others. Because everyone is very tired.”
