Desertions Spark Panic, And Pardons, In Ukraine's Army

Family, friends, and army comrades gather to mourn Ukrainian army paramedic Nazarii Lavrovskyi (31) at his funeral at Lisove cemetery in Kiev, 24 April 2024 (Photo: Francisco Seco / AP)

Oleksandr LNU (photo in link) deserted from the front line in eastern Ukraine after watching his fellow servicemen being pulverized by Russian bombardments for six months. Then, those remaining were ordered to counterattack.

It was the final straw for Oleksandr (45) who had been holding the line in the embattled Lugansk region in the early months of the war. Even his commanding officer was reluctant to send his men back toward what looked like certain death. So when Oleksandr saw an opening to save his life, he did.

"We wanted to live. We had no combat experience. We were just ordinary working people from villages," the soft-spoken serviceman.

His decision is just one of many cases plaguing the Ukrainian military, which has already suffered at least 43,000 losses in nearly three years of fighting, President Volodymyr Zelensky revealed this month. The government is also struggling to recruit new troops.

Figures published by the Ukrainian general prosecutor's office show that more than 90,000 cases have been opened into instances of soldiers going absent without leave or deserting since Russia invaded in 2022, with a sharp increase over the past year.



Members of the 'Da Vinci' Assault Battalion without masks or blurred faces. Ukraine now offers amnesty for first-time deserters if they return to their units. (Photo: AFP)

Shell shock and PTSD have devastating effects on soldiers, on top of them dealing with plain innate fear and miserable living conditions in the front lines. Drone operators in the rear are most likely not the personnel deserting, but frontline soldiers are. During the Second World War, 50,000 US soldiers of the "Greatest Generation" deserted in the European Theater of Operations (ETO) from 1942 to 1945; there were no desertions reported in the Pacific Theater of Operations (PTO). Kiev offering amnesty or pardons is a positive step in improving morale, as well as maintaining manpower levels. The Ukrainian Army may also consider extended R & R leaves, like US servicemen enjoyed in Thailand, Hong Kong, Japan, Australia, Hawaii, Taiwan, and Singapore, during the Vietnam War.


Sources:

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/10/21/why-is-ukraines-army-facing-a-desertion-crisis

https://www.ibtimes.com/desertions-spark-panic-pardons-ukraines-army-3757026

https://www.npr.org/2013/06/17/189275754/wwii-deserters-stories-of-men-who-left-the-front-lines

Archived:

https://archive.ph/oYj1u#selection-905.0-905.251