Since the beginning of the full-scale war in Ukraine, more than 200 000 cases of desertion and AWOL have been opened

As of July 2025, since the beginning of Russiaʼs full-scale invasion of Ukraine, more than 185 000 cases have been opened for AWOL, as well as more than 50 000 for desertion.

This was reported by the Prosecutor Generalʼs Office at the request of Ukrainian Truth.

Under Article 407 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine (on AWOL), 347 proceedings were registered in 2022, 6 641 in 2023, and 67 840 in 2024.

At the same time, 110 511 proceedings under this article have already been registered in the first 7 months of 2025. Thus, since the beginning of the full-scale Russian invasion, the number of cases opened under AWOL has reached 185 339. In 15 564 of them, suspicion has already been reported.

In addition, as of now, 50 058 criminal proceedings have been registered under Article 408 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine — desertion. In 1 248 proceedings, suspicion has been reported.

• Thanks to the simplified return-to-service mechanism for those who left the military unit for the first time (without permission), more than 29 000 servicemen returned to service from November 29, 2024 to August 2025.

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