Some will never return to the military after feeling they are being treated “like animals,” Anna Skorokhod has said
Almost 400,000 Ukrainian servicemen have abandoned their units without authorization, and many – including volunteers – have no plans to return due to abysmal treatment from superiors, Ukrainian MP Anna Skorokhod has said.
In an interview with Ukrainian media on Sunday, the lawmaker said that while the figure does not represent irretrievable losses, as many of those going AWOL eventually return, this is not always the case.
“Many will never return, because it is principled… You can’t treat like animals those who volunteered, fought for three years without seeing family,” she said.
According to Skorokhod, these people “deserve the right to return home to their families, to their children, wives, to get back to an ordinary life. […] But they are being told ‘you will return only after victory’ – which only exacerbates the situation,” she said, stressing that this kind of treatment from the leadership is the key reason for soldiers going off the radar.
Ukrainian Journalist Vladimir Boiko reported last month that the authorities had filed more than 107,000 criminal cases on desertions and AWOLs in the first half of 2025. He said the total number of cases had exceeded 230,000 since the escalation of the Ukraine conflict in 2022, with the real number of incidents possibly even higher.
The chief reasons for Ukrainian soldiers leaving are exhaustion, lack of motivation, and bureaucratic hurdles, such as soldiers eligible for discharge being refused release, according to local officials and media reports. Last month, Skorokhod said that another notable problem is corruption and extortion of combat pay by commanders.
Ukraine announced general mobilization shortly after the start of the conflict, barring men between the ages of 18 and 60 from leaving the country. Last year, it lowered the draft age from 27 to 25 while tightening mobilization rules.
The forced conscription campaign has triggered repeated violent clashes between reluctant recruits and draft officers. Last week, public discontent erupted into a riot in the city of Vinnytsia when protesters tried to force the release of newly mobilized men. Violent encounters occurred between demonstrators and police, with numerous arrests.
