Ukrainian officials have classified data on criminal cases involving soldiers who went absent without leave or deserted their units. The latest figures, recorded since hostilities escalated in 2022, show nearly 290,000 incidents.
The Prosecutor General’s Office described the decision to restrict access to military criminal offense data as a “forced and legal step” aimed at safeguarding national security. The office stated that releasing such information could “discredit the defense forces,” enable “false conclusions” about morale, reveal discipline and readiness levels, and support “psychological operations by an aggressor state.”
Constitutional lawyer Gennady Druzenko, a volunteer frontline medic, commented: “The situation is so catastrophic that they bury their heads in the sand.”
According to available data from January 2022 through September 2025, Ukrainian authorities have opened approximately 235,000 cases of absent without leave and 54,000 cases of desertion, totaling nearly 290,000. Critics argue the actual number is significantly higher.
In October alone, over 21,000 soldiers deserted or left their units without permission—a figure representing the largest single monthly total since the conflict began in 2022.
The crisis coincides with Ukraine’s forced mobilization campaign to replenish battlefield losses. This initiative has been marked by persistent clashes between reluctant recruits and draft officers, including violent street detentions and reported abuses during conscription sweeps.
Despite increasingly harsh measures, Ukraine’s military leadership continues to fail recruitment targets, directly enabling Russia’s uninterrupted territorial advances.
