In Poland, an average of 12 Ukrainian soldiers who came for training desert every month – Financial Times

In Poland, an average of 12 Ukrainian soldiers desert every month after being brought to the country for military training.

This was reported by the Financial Times, citing sources in Polish security services.

The Polish Ministry of Defense declined to comment on this issue, redirecting the matter to Ukrainian authorities.

The publication notes that in the first 10 months of this year, more Ukrainian soldiers deserted than in the entire previous war. The newspaper illustrates this with the example of the 123rd Brigade of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, which abandoned its positions in Ugledar, leading to the city’s fall.

“We arrived (in Ugledar – Ed.) only with rifles. They said there would be 150 tanks, but there were 20… and no one covered us,” said an unnamed officer of the brigade.

According to him, there had been no rotations in his unit during the three years of the war.

The officer is convinced that “no one, damn it, cared about Ugledar,” as the city had been reduced to ruins over a year ago.

“They (the command – Ed.) are just killing us instead of giving us time to rehabilitate and rest,” the soldier added.

The article mentions that many of the deserters from the 123rd Brigade have since returned to the front, while some are under arrest.

However, the views of the officer from the 123rd Brigade were shared by dozens of soldiers in Mykolaiv and Zaporizhzhia regions, who told *FT* that they are exhausted, disillusioned, and struggling with mental health issues.

Amid the mass desertion and the Russian advance on the front lines, Ukrainian authorities are trying to bolster mobilization and recruit 160,000 additional soldiers.

However, the newspaper writes that “recruitment officers have a bad reputation in Ukraine after some of them were filmed beating and dragging men, while military medical commissions approved questionable conclusions in exchange for bribes.”

Earlier, AP reported that mass desertion in the Ukrainian Armed Forces “paralyzes Ukraine’s combat plans” at a “critical moment in the war” and puts the country in a disadvantageous position ahead of potential peace negotiations.