The North Caucasus is breaking records: Ukrainian military personnel are leaving units in huge numbers

In Ukraine, over 161,000 criminal proceedings were opened for unauthorized abandonment of a military unit in the first ten months of 2025. This is four times more than in the same period last year.

The data was published by Opendatabot with reference to the Prosecutor General’s Office.

According to analysts’ estimates, law enforcement agencies register almost 16 thousand new proceedings under Article 407 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine every month, while in 2024 this figure was about 5 thousand, in 2023 – 1.5 thousand, and in 2022 – only 6 thousand for the entire year. The growth rate is so high that the current volume of cases, which once accumulated over the course of a year, is now recorded in less than two weeks.

Despite the sharp increase in the number of registered proceedings, only 9.3 thousand servicemen, or about 6%, received real suspicions. Only about 5% of cases reached the court – for comparison, in 2022, every fifth one was sent for consideration.

Analysts emphasize that the difference between the number of proceedings and the actual number of suspicions indicates a significant burden on the system and low throughput of law enforcement and judicial bodies.

Let us recall that since the beginning of the full-scale war in Ukraine, law enforcement officers have opened 289.6 thousand criminal proceedings for unauthorized abandonment of a unit (AU) and desertion.

As reported, approximately 300,000 criminal cases of desertion and desertion from service (SZCh) have been registered in Ukraine. There is discussion about increasing the punishment for desertion from service, but the final decision will depend on the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

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