Thousands of men have abandoned their posts, blaming poor conditions on the front lines and open-ended service.
Family, friends and army comrades gather to mourn Ukrainian army paramedic Nazarii Lavrovskyi, 31, at his funeral at Lisove cemetery in Kyiv, April 24, 2024
Prosecutions for desertion from Ukraine’s army are thought to have hit at least 30,000 – quite possibly much more – already this year.
Desertion has become so common that Ukraine’s parliament, the Verkhovna Rada, took the unprecedented step of decriminalising first-time attempts to flee the army on August 20, 2024, as long as those caught agree to return to duty.