Soldiers are deserting the Ukrainian army when it desperately needs manpower, which makes combat plans impossible at key moments in the war with Russia. Kiev could remain at a distinct disadvantage in future ceasefire negotiations.
Tens of thousands of Ukrainian soldiers are leaving combat positions and positions on the front line due to fatigue and poverty, according to soldiers, lawyers and Ukrainian officials. Entire units have left their positions, weakening defense lines and accelerating territorial losses, according to military commanders and soldiers, the Associated Press (AP) reports.
Some take sick leave and never return, because of war trauma and demoralized by the slim prospects of victory. Others stand up to commanders and refuse to carry out orders, sometimes in the middle of battle.
"This is a key problem. This is the third year of the war and this problem will only grow," said Oleksandr Kovalenko, a military analyst from Kiev.
Although Moscow has also dealt with deserters, Ukrainian deserters have revealed deep problems with their military and the way Kiev is waging war, from poor mobilization to overstretching and retreating at the front. Also, this is happening at a time when the United States of America (USA) is calling on Ukraine to recruit more soldiers and allow the recruitment of those who are 18 years old.
The AP spoke with two deserters, three lawyers and a dozen Ukrainian officials and military commanders. Officials and commanders spoke on condition of anonymity to reveal classified information, while one deserter did so because he feared prosecution.
"It is clear that now, frankly speaking, we have already extracted the maximum from our people," said the officer of the 72nd Brigade, who stated that desertion was one of the main reasons why Ukraine lost the city of Vuhledar in October.
Soldiers running away
More than 100.000 soldiers have been charged under Ukraine's desertion laws since Russia invaded in February 2022, the country's attorney general's office said.
Nearly half have deserted in the past year, after Kiev launched an aggressive and controversial mobilization drive that government officials and military commanders admit has failed. That's a staggeringly high number, as an estimated 300.000 Ukrainian soldiers were involved in the fighting before the mobilization began. The actual number of deserters may be much higher.
One deputy who knows military matters estimated that it could be up to 200.000.
Many deserters do not return from approved sick leave. Tired of war, they are psychologically and emotionally vulnerable. They feel guilt about not being able to have the will to fight, anger about how the war is being fought, and frustration that it seems like they won't win.
"Staying silent about a big problem only hurts our country," said Serhiy Hnezdilov, one of the few soldiers who spoke publicly about his choice to desert. He was charged shortly after the AP interviewed him in September.
Another deserter said he first left his infantry unit with permission because he needed surgery. When his sick leave ended, he couldn't bring himself to return. He still has nightmares about comrades he saw killed.
"The best way to explain it is to imagine that you are sitting under a barrage of fire, and from their side there are 50 shells coming at you, while from our side there is only one. Then you see your friends turning into pieces of meat and you realize that it is happening to you every moment can happen," he said.
"Meanwhile, our guys 10 kilometers away are ordering you over the radio: 'Come on, get ready. Everything will be fine,'" he said.
Hnezdilov also went to seek medical help. Before undergoing the operation, he announced that he was leaving the army.
He said that after five years of military service, he sees no hope that he will ever be demobilized, despite earlier promises from the country's leadership.
"If there is no end, it turns into a prison – it is psychologically difficult to find reasons to defend this country," Hnezdilov said.
A growing problem for Kyiv
Desertion turned battle plans to dust. The AP heard of cases where defense lines were seriously compromised as entire units defied orders and abandoned their positions.
"Due to the lack of political will and poor management of troops, especially in the infantry, we are certainly not moving in the direction of properly defending the territories we now control," Hnezdilov said.
In September, the Ukrainian army recorded a shortfall of 4.000 soldiers at the front, mainly due to deaths, injuries and desertions, according to one lawmaker.
Most of the deserters were recently mobilized. The head of the legal department of one brigade, which is in charge of processing desertion cases and forwarding them to the police, said that there are many of them.
"The main reason they leave combat positions during hostilities is that their comrades die. We had several situations when units fled, small or large. The enemy found them and killed their comrades, and those who were standing in the positions did not know that there were no nobody," the official said.
That's how Vuhledar, a hilltop town that Ukraine defended for two years, was lost in a few Sundays in October, said an officer of the 72nd Brigade, who was among the last to retreat.
That brigade was already overstretched for weeks before Vuhledar fell. Only one line battalion and two rifle battalions guarded the city, and the military commanders even began to pull units from them to support the flanks, the officer said. There were supposed to be 120 men in each of the battalion's companies, but some companies were reduced to only 10, due to deaths, injuries and escapes, he said.
About a fifth of the soldiers from those companies escaped.
"The percentage has grown exponentially every month," he added.
Reinforcements were sent when Russia realized Ukraine's weakened position and attacked. But then the reinforcements left, the officer said. Because of this, when one of the battalions of the 72nd Brigade retreated, its members were shot because they did not know that no one was covering them, he said.
However, this officer does not have a bad attitude about deserters.
"At this stage I am not judging any of the soldiers from my battalion and others because they are all really tired," he said.
Charges against deserters
Prosecutors and the military would rather not file charges against soldiers who fled and failed to persuade them to return, say three military officers and a spokesman for Ukraine's State Bureau of Investigation. Some deserters return, but leave again.
Ukraine's General Staff said the soldiers were receiving psychological support, but did not respond to questions about what they all face on the battlefield.
When soldiers are accused, it is difficult to defend them, said two lawyers who deal with such cases. They focus on the psychological state of their clients.
"People cannot psychologically cope with the situation they are in, and they are not provided with psychological help," said lawyer Tetjana Ivanova.
Soldiers who are freed from desertion for psychological reasons set a dangerous precedent because "then everyone can have an excuse to leave, because there are almost no healthy ones," she said.
Soldiers considering desertion sought her advice. A few were sent to fight at Vuhledar.
"They wouldn't keep the territory, they wouldn't conquer anything, but none of them would come back," she said.
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