CITIZENS NEWS

Ukrainian army faces collapse as desertion rates soar, 250,000+ cases opened since war began

By isabelle // 2025-10-31

• Ukraine faces a massive desertion crisis with hundreds of thousands of cases.
• Soldiers are leaving their posts at a rate of nearly 600 per day.
• Exhaustion and a lack of rotation are primary causes for the mass exodus.
• The military is so desperate that it is sending support staff to the front lines.
• This internal morale collapse poses a severe threat to Ukraine's defense.

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."

Desperate measures and a widening gap

In response to the crisis, Ukrainian authorities are considering ever more draconian measures. Parliament is debating reinstating full criminal liability for those who leave the army. There have been discussions about freezing the bank accounts of draft dodgers, lowering the conscription age, and eliminating exemptions. These actions signal a government growing increasingly desperate to force manpower into its depleted ranks. The situation is different on the other side of the conflict. While the Russian army also faces desertions, with more than 25,000 soldiers and officers reported to have abandoned units in just one military district over nine months, the scale is vastly smaller. Reports indicate that Russia has prosecuted approximately 20,538 cases of AWOL and desertion since the war began, a mere fraction of the Ukrainian total. This disparity persists even though Ukraine is defending its homeland. Analysts suggest the reason is not morale but simple mathematics. Russia’s larger population allows it to regularly rotate soldiers off the front lines, preventing the kind of exhaustion that plagues Ukrainian troops. One report noted that Russian soldiers typically serve three to six months before relief, while Ukrainian soldiers often serve indefinitely. The Ukrainian military’s desperation is palpable. Lieutenant General Oleksandr Syrsky has admitted to critical manpower shortages, forcing the military to take measures such as sending maintenance and logistics staff to the front lines to fill the gaps in the infantry. This cannibalization of support roles underscores the severity of the personnel crisis. Ultimately, the soaring desertion rate is a powerful indicator of war fatigue and a collapsing will to fight. It paints a picture of a military structure that is buckling under the weight of a prolonged attritional war, where soldiers feel abandoned by their command and see no end in sight. As one soldier put it, "Everybody is tired. The mood has changed." This internal collapse of morale may prove to be a more significant threat to Ukraine's defense than any external enemy. Sources for this article include: RMX.news KyivIndependent.com EurasianTimes.com TheGuardian.com

collapse Russia Ukraine national security violence genocide soldiers big government depopulation chaos humanitarian WWIII traitors AWOL desertion