Since the war in Ukraine began, which is on its way to turning three years, More than 100,000 soldiers have been accused of dropoutaccording to the Attorney General of Ukraine. It is a relevance figure, because in the first mobilization and recruitment campaigns the Ukrainian army had only 300,000 troops.
The reasons why soldiers desert are several and always depend on each case, although they are usually related to lousy conditions and the exhaustion they face. An example of this is that of Albert, a 33 -year -old deserter who stayed in Ukraine and who agreed to speak with “ and tells how his passage through the conflict and How he managed to escape that hell.
“I saw friends of childhood running towards death, to places where everyone knew we could not bear it, because we did not have adequate coverage of drones. At that time the commanders said things like luck accompany us and that everything goes well” , says the man, who says that he does not feel guilty or cares what people think of his dropout.
“For someone to understand what I lived, I should have been there. My friends, the people I have served, everyone understands it. I don’t care about external opinions, because, there is, nobody can judge what I lived . There is something worse, certainly, but I could have died several times, How is it going to care what others think? Albert emphasizes.
One of the complaints he makes and in which the majority of deserters usually agree is that during the soldiers’ recruit force”.
“At the time of the counteroffensive, I really thought I had to go to fight, I wanted The fight and believed in the union of all, that my superiors would always protect me, “adds Albert, who says that before returning to the front with the same brigade “I would prefer to go to jail.”
“There are many people who leave, and it is because they are disappointed, or even shocked, by the stupidity level of the bosses. The commanders pursue their goals, we are a resource, a tool to be able to ascend in the races, or that, no, no I know.
Another of the issues that this deserter answers is about The recovery of Ukraine territories, which does not believe it will happen. “The Ukrainians do not want Better who can.
“The consequence is that son lYou have the most vulnerable segments of the population, The medium -age and working -class men, who have been forcibly mobilized, Those who are paying the price. They die, they are injured, they disappear, they are captured, “adds Albert, who believes that in the current state in which the country is submerged” it is not able to recover the lost territories “and that the important thing” is not losing even more ” .
Artem’s history: ‘I’m afraid to tell what I did to the Russians’
Artem, another soldier who defected, but who moved to the Spanish coast, also tells his story to ‘Expresso’. “I enlisted in the army because it would be to free my land, Crimea, and that was the plan of the troops in the south, but I don’t think it will take ten minutes, after reaching the groundto realize that it was never going to happen. “
One of the things that worries this former volunteer is that his family did not know his patriotism for Ukraine. “My family does not know that I killed Russians with drones, I want to tell them everything personally, but I’m afraid of that conversation. If what my mother writes on the Internet is really what he thinks of all this, anyway, I do not anticipate anything good,” .
“Here things are not brilliant, I sleep in a bedroom with six people, but better than in Germany, where everything was disinfected, but it seemed a psychiatric hospital, with the police at the door and forbidden to speak after 10 p.m. “, Artem says that he affirms that He chose to flee to Spain because residence and work permits took less than in Germany.
