Why thousands of Ukrainian soldiers are deserting the front lines Focus on Europe

Mission after mission, deployment after deployment, you start seeing the bigger picture. You realize there's no end of the war in sight. Over four years into the war, Ukraine is struggling, not least to recruit new soldiers. The Defense Ministry has counted around 200,000 troops who have left their units without authorization. Many have said they're exhausted. Others point to the lack of any clear path to end the war. Some have criticized what they've called aggressive recruitment tactics for the front line. Are Ukraine's armed forces losing soldiers faster than they can replace them? We headed to Kramatorsk in eastern Ukraine. There, we met Serhii Nezdilov, a member of a drone unit. Two years ago, he made headlines when he left his unit without authorization and publicly explained why. At 19, I put my civilian life on hold. I really wanted to know when I'd be able to get back to it. When Nezdilov joined the army in 2019, he signed a three-year contract. Just before his service was supposed to end, Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Nezdilov had to stay and keep fighting. In September 2024, he went public with his frustration. In a social media post, he explained his reasoning. He argued that every Ukrainian should contribute to the country's defense and that even in wartime, soldiers deserve to know when they can expect a return to civilian life. For some reason, the country is relying only on the people who volunteered, who joined the military and are still willing to fight for some kind of short-lived victory. I said I was in one of the most discriminated against groups in Ukrainian society, effectively pushed out of society. Ukraine's military leadership is well aware of the strain on troop numbers. Defense Minister Fedorov has promised improvements. We need to do our homework and solve problems. I've taken over the Defense Ministry and we're facing a shortfall of about 300 billion euros. We have 2 million missing Ukrainians and 200,000 soldiers absent without leave. Outdated structures and a lack of trust in military leadership were the reasons Anatoly ultimately left the army. It's the same all over. They don't care about soldiers. All they care about are their ranks and their money. Anatoly spent several years in the infantry, fighting in places like Bakhmut. He says his unit was reassigned. According to him, his commanders sent him home on leave to recover and decompress. A month later they sent me all my documents, passport, military ID. Suddenly I was listed as AWOL. They were supposed to send me money for the leave. They sent those documents. That was it. But frustrations like these are only part of the problem. Many people associate Ukraine's mobilization effort with images like these. Soldiers forcibly taking civilian men off the streets and sending them to military service. Oles says scenes like this hurt morale. Any early belief that individual efforts could influence the course of the war has long faded. Mission after mission, deployment after deployment, you start seeing the bigger picture. You realize there's no end in sight. Your own efforts don't have the slightest impact on the overall course of this war. Oles is 30 years old and became a father just a few months ago. He'd spent years serving in an engineering battalion, clearing mines and building defensive positions, work that helped keep soldiers safe. Then news came from the guys there. A message arrived saying the unit would be split up and people sent to certain infantry brigades. They named them. They were brigades that had heavy casualties and bad reputations. Oles was assigned to the front. Most of the men in his unit had never completed basic military training. Very few had any combat experience. We were to leave for a new brigade that evening. We looked at each other. I understood that probably few of us would actually make it to Somi. Those of us with vehicles drove off to wherever we could. So the army didn't gain any infantrymen, but it lost many engineers. Oles left his unit without authorization and faced no consequences. He took advantage of a loophole that has since been closed, transferring elsewhere within the military. Today he handles administrative duties from an office. For him and over a million Ukrainian soldiers, the fight against the Russian aggressor continues. For now, though, the end is nowhere in sight.