Ukraine is working on legislation to regulate the responsibility of military personnel for leaving their units without permission (AWOL). The number of such cases has already exceeded 200 000.
This was reported by Defense Minister Mykhailo Fedorov in an interview with TSN.
Last week, on June 12, the Ministry of Defense presented a simplified mechanism for returning from AWOL, more details about which were written by Babel here. As Fedorov emphasized, this mechanism will only apply to servicemen who left for AWOL before June 12, and can be used until September 20.
For those who voluntarily left the unit after June 12, the Ministry of Defense will increase responsibility.
"More precisely, letʼs put it this way: it (the law) will not increase responsibility or any punishments, it will make these mechanisms more realistic. Because today we can say that they mostly do not work. That is, a person goes AWOL and does not have court sentences. They will appear, for this it is necessary to adopt a draft law, which will be registered by the Ministry of Defense," Fedorov said.
- In August 2024, Ukraine decriminalized the first desertion or unauthorized abandonment of a unit if a serviceman voluntarily returns to service.
- The procedure for returning from AWOL has subsequently been updated several times. For example, this April, the General Staff simplified this process.
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