In Ukraine, more exhausted soldiers are abandoning their posts

KYIV – On the first day of Russia’s full-scale invasion, Mr Roman Solomonyuk shocked his family when he volunteered to fight. But over 2½ years later, he has joined the growing number of Ukrainian soldiers who’ve called it quits.

First, the 45-year-old dug trenches near the Russian border. Later, he shot down deadly Shahed drones. But then Solomonyuk fell out with a heavy-handed officer – and he’s now officially wanted for leaving his unit without permission.

Since 2022, Ukraine opened nearly 96,000 criminal cases against servicemen who abandoned their positions

since Russia’s invasion,

according to data from the prosecutor-general’s office. That represents a sixfold increase over the past two years, and most of the cases were opened in 2024.

As Ukraine’s army struggles to hold back Russian advances, its manpower disadvantage is becoming more acute.

Yet, Kyiv is seeking to avoid a conscription drive that could disrupt the economy and unsettle a war-weary population. As a result, some troops are deployed indefinitely with no chance of a break. New troops to relieve them are scarce.

Many military personnel are simply exhausted, President Volodymyr Zelensky said in a radio interview earlier in December.

But he resisted setting a deadline to discharge troops, making seasoned soldiers wonder why they should risk their lives when millions of men – many of them younger – do not serve. For them, going absent without leave, or Awol, becomes the only respite, a chance to recuperate and tend to their family lives.

“Fatigue plays a role. Or there are personal circumstances, like when a soldier’s wife is giving birth,” said Mr Oleksandr Hrynchuk of Ukraine’s military law enforcement service. “Or because there’s nobody else to lead the platoon and the commander didn’t grant leave.”

100,000 Awol

Kyiv does not release the official number of soldiers who have gone Awol.

When asked how many servicemen are currently classified as such, Mr Hrynchuk declined to comment on “sensitive information”, but noted that 40 to 60 per cent of all Awol cases return on their own.

Desertion, when soldiers leave for good, is considered a graver crime but is less frequent, according to the prosecutor-general’s data.

Mr Roman Lykhachov, a Kharkiv-based lawyer for soldiers and veterans, estimates the number may stand at 100,000 or more, which is not a far cry from the 160,000 troops that Ukraine earlier said it still needs to mobilise.

Some criminal cases on Awol name up to 20 to 30 defendants, he said, and there are also soldiers who have left but have yet to be charged.

In comparison, Russian courts processed at least 10,000 cases against runaway soldiers so far, half of them in 2024, the Mediazona news website reported in August.

While that is a sign that Moscow struggles with the same issue, Russia can more easily absorb the drain on its manpower given that its population is almost four times that of Ukraine.

Compared with Russia’s harsh military discipline, there is less fear among Ukrainian soldiers of the consequences of leaving their posts or speaking out against commanders, said a Ukrainian military officer who declined to be named. He added that higher payments incentivise Moscow’s troops to stay put.

For Kyiv, it is a conundrum that has yet to be solved. Last week, Mr Zelensky promised soldiers on the run an amnesty if they returned to their units before Jan 1, allowing them to avoid criminal charges.

Some 3,000 servicemen have returned to their units since that change took effect on Nov 29, according to the military.

Red tape

These changes come as Ukrainian soldiers complain that they have had to fight not only the Russians but also their own country’s rigid military bureaucracy.

In recent years, Kyiv has taken strides to turn its top-heavy, Soviet-style military into a more modern, nimble force. It adopted many Nato standards and allowed lower-ranking commanders to take more initiative. Soldiers are able to request a transfer to another unit via a mobile app.

But much of the army remains outdated and transferring from one combat unit to another still requires permission from the same commander soldiers want to get away from.

Solomonyuk joined the territorial defence expecting to fight the enemy in the most efficient way, but says he was quickly stymied by disorganisation and bureaucracy.

“If a business worked the same way, it would’ve quickly failed,” he said.

His company of six people had just a single Browning heavy machine gun, designed near the end of World War I, with which to shoot down Shaheds. Before they could start downing the Iranian-made drones, Solomonyuk and his comrades had to raise about 700,000 hryvnia (S$22,653) to buy a used truck on which to drive the gun around, alongside a Starlink satellite antenna and other tools.

Nevertheless, Solomonyuk praised his immediate commanders as motivated and professional.

But then, a superior officer took a more active role, he said, issuing dangerous orders such as insisting that all servicemen be lodged together – meaning they could all be killed in a single strike.

Another brigade agreed to host their tiny company, but the transfer was obstructed. Unwilling to stay under their old commander and unable to switch to a new one,Solomonyuk and most of his colleagues went Awol, demanding to be transferred to their unit of choice.

Even under a better commander, there is no guarantee Solomonyuk’s company would continue shooting down drones.

Increasingly, Ukraine’s commanders send specialised troops such as air defence operators to the frontlines as infantry, where reinforcements are most sorely needed. It is another reason to leave.

According to one soldier who spoke on condition of anonymity, this was the fate of his comrade, an artillery specialist who was sent to an infantry unit on what he was told would be a month-long assignment. After discovering that his new role was made permanent without his knowledge, the artilleryman went Awol.

For Solomonyuk, only by tackling entrenched bureaucracy will Ukraine’s military entice soldiers to stick by it.

“Without reforms, we have fewer people who are motivated to fight on,” he said. BLOOMBERG