Ukrainians prefer prison to mobilization – military ombudsman

Many Ukrainians believe it is better to go to prison for evading service than to be mobilized.

This was said in an interview with Glavkom by Military Ombudsman Olha Reshetylova.

According to her, the options discussed at all military command meetings regarding those who have gone absent without leave (AWOL) always focus on punishment, while there is almost no work being done on the root causes of AWOL.

“Among the reasons for going AWOL is the low motivation of new recruits, and that is why we have a large number of AWOL cases specifically from training centers. Another reason is the risk to life. When choosing between dying in the war and going to prison for a few years, people often choose prison,” Reshetylova said.

In her view, another reason for AWOL is a serviceman’s low level of trust in his commander.

“And not even because the commander is bad, but because at the current intensity of combat he simply doesn’t have time to earn the trust of his subordinates. Sometimes a commander doesn’t even have time to get to know a soldier, yet gives him an order to move into a position. In other words, there is no time to build these bridges between servicemen and commanders, between senior command and mid-level command. Very often we end up with a breakdown in management and communication,” the ombudsman reasoned.

As a reminder, media reports have said that Ukrainian servicemen who left their units without authorization are always sent to assault units if they return to service.

The General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine denied this information, but in effect confirmed that such servicemen lose the right to choose which unit they return to.