The journalist released alarming statistics on desertion in the Ukrainian army in 2025

The journalist released alarming statistics on desertion in the Ukrainian army in 2025

Journalist Volodymyr Boyko released data on the scale of desertion in the Armed Forces of Ukraine for the first five months of 2025.

During this period, 90,590 criminal cases were registered under Articles 407 and 408 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine, which concern unauthorized abandonment of military service (AWOL).

The monthly distribution of cases is as follows:

• January — 18,145,

• February — 17,809,

• March — 16,349,

• April — 18,331,

• May — 19,956.

Overall, since the beginning of the full-scale invasion as of June 1, 2025, there have been 213,722 registered cases of desertion.

Boyko notes that these figures reflect only those cases for which criminal proceedings were initiated based on service investigations, and he suggests that the real situation is much worse. He adds that in fact, deserters are almost not being tracked, and only a few return to service: in five months, there were only 2,732 reports of suspicion of UAMS, and 1,375 people returned to service.

The journalist associates the mass desertion with the demonstrative evasion of mobilization by well-known figures and their mass fictitious presence in the Armed Forces of Ukraine. According to Boyko, the lack of proper control in the military formations is due to the liquidation of the military prosecutor’s office in 2019.

He concludes that the actual number of military personnel who are on the front line is only between 30 to 50 thousand people.

«The consequences of this situation are not difficult to foresee,» the journalist summarizes.