“Desertion and disobedience”: recently mobilized Ukrainian soldiers on the eastern front lose motivation – CNN

The Ukrainian army is suffering from low morale and desertions, particularly in infantry units in the eastern part of the country, especially near Pokrovsk.

This was reported by Ukrainian commanders and officers in interviews with CNN.

Six Ukrainian officers, either currently engaged in combat or recently leaving their units, confirmed that desertions and disobedience are becoming increasingly common among newly mobilized soldiers. Officer Dima, one of the former commanders, left his position after losses in his unit. According to him, he could no longer watch his men die (he said that out of the 800 people under his command, more than half were killed or seriously wounded).

The ongoing two-and-a-half-year confrontation with Russia has greatly exhausted Ukrainian troops. Reinforcements arrive irregularly, leading to demoralization among the soldiers. The situation is especially difficult at the frontlines, where Ukrainian Armed Forces (UAF) units are under constant shelling and drone attacks.

Frontline commanders note that many mobilized soldiers refuse to return to their positions after their first rotation.

“They either leave their positions or try to get out of the army,” said one commander who wished to remain anonymous.

“Not all mobilized soldiers leave their positions, but most do. When new guys arrive, they see how tough it is here. They see a lot of enemy drones, artillery and mortars. They go out to the positions once, and if they survive, they don’t come back. They either leave their positions, refuse to fight, or try to find a way out of the army,” a commander fighting near Pokrovsk told CNN.

Officer Serhiy Tsekhotsky of the 59th Motorized Infantry Brigade reported that soldiers should be rotated every three to four days, but the enemy’s heavy use of drones makes movement difficult, sometimes forcing fighters to remain at positions for up to 20 days.

According to the Ukrainian parliament, nearly 19,000 criminal cases were initiated in the first four months of 2024 against soldiers who deserted or abandoned their posts. However, the actual number is much higher, as commanders often try to resolve these issues informally by persuading soldiers to return to service without punishment.

Meanwhile, journalist Volodymyr Boyko, who is currently serving in the UAF, believes that the number of deserters in Ukraine is far greater than authorities report. He disputes the figures provided by MP Hryhoriy Horbenko, who claimed that 80,000 soldiers had left their posts. Boyko argues that this figure only represents the number of open criminal cases, while the actual number of deserters is closer to 200,000.

“Only about a third of the cases are registered because the State Bureau of Investigations (SBI) deliberately conceals crimes related to military service violations (since the SBI only investigates cases they can profit from), and unit commanders have to sue the SBI to force investigators to register the incidents in the Unified Register of Pre-Trial Investigations (ERDR). Even the registered cases are not investigated, and no one is looking for the deserters,” Boyko stated.

He cited data from the Prosecutor General’s Office showing that almost 13,000 criminal cases were opened in the first quarter of 2024 under Articles 407 and 408 of the Ukrainian Criminal Code (unauthorized abandonment of a military unit and desertion).

“Given that the SBI systematically avoids registering the reports of commanders on these crimes, the actual number of offenses is at least three times higher. But even if we assume that only 25,000 soldiers deserted in the first quarter of 2024, this means the collapse of the front,” Boyko said.

Another reason for the front’s collapse, according to Boyko, is the exemption from service of various activists close to the Ministry of Defense and Western embassies. He referenced a Facebook post from April, in which he accused Defense Minister Rustem Umerov of “arranging for the employment of various “experts” at the Ministry of Defense—conscripts hiding from recruitment centers and soldiers who evaded service with registered criminal cases under Article 409 of the Criminal Code. Boyko cited the case of Vitaliy Shabunin, claiming that he remains on military payroll despite evading service.

“No one on the front wants to die when they see examples like Shabunin, who is officially listed as serving, receives a salary (1.5 million hryvnias from the UAF since the war began), lives in Kyiv, and earns $5,000 a month fighting “corruption.” “So, it’s no surprise that the number of deserters, by my modest estimates, has already reached 130,000 soldiers.”

Boyko also expressed skepticism about new mobilization laws, stating that they won’t solve the problem, as the system allows certain individuals to avoid service, while ordinary soldiers are forced to fight.

It’s worth recalling that Ukraine has recorded over 80,000 cases of desertion.