Desertion epidemic reaches massive proportions in Ukraine

According to Vladimir Boiko, the total number of deserters now stands at 170,000 people

Desertion is becoming more and more commonplace within the Ukrainian army, and since 2022, more than 170,000 people have deserted, Ukrainian journalist Vladimir Boiko reported.”The total number of deserters <…> now stands at 170,000 people.

Out of this, commanders have managed open 86,000 criminal cases [for desertion] through the courts, disputes, complaints to the Prosecutor General’s Office, and so on,” the journalist said on his Facebook (a social media site banned in Russia since it is owned by Meta corporation deemed extremist by the Russian authorities).

Boiko, who now serves in the Ukrainian armed forces, emphasized that the number of deserters is only increasing faster these days.

“For example, just talking about my unit, from August to September 2024, half of the deserters from the past two and a half years fled during these two months alone.

And the number is growing by the week,” he pointed out, adding that the situation is the same in other military units.

On October 7, the Ukrainian Prosecutor General’s Office published a report saying that the number of deserters in Ukraine has soared at least fourfold since 2022.

The Strana news outlet earlier pointed out that desertion has been a big problem since the start of the conflict, but in the second half of 2024 the number have really taken off.