Ukrainain Army Suffering 40,000+ Desertions Per Month: Frontlines Severely Underman
Ukrainian commanders have continued to lament the extreme desertion rates that are contributing to fuelling personnel shortages in frontline units, as extreme casualty rates have led conscripts to resort to often extreme measures to avoid combat. A recent British assessment has estimated that 650,000 Ukrainian men of fighting age have fled Ukraine, while the number of deserters, according to Ukrainian MP Anna Skorokhod, has reached almost 400,000. Drawing attention to the issue, commander of the elite 108th Separate Assault Battalion Sergey Filimonov recently questioned followers on X how surprised “would you be if I told you that another newly formed brigade is being put together from the ranks of the 150th? Which, at the stage of formation, already has about 3,000 AWOL [absent without official leave]?” Desertion rates have continued to rise during the war, with a Financial Times investigation in December 2024 finding that rates that year were twice as high as the two previous years.
A recent assessment by the London-based Telegraph concluded that “perhaps as many as 20,000 [Ukrainian service members] desert or go absent every four weeks,” with the Ukrainain government having launched 290,000 criminal cases for desertion, while the armed forces may now be over 200,000 personnel short of the minimum needed to hold the line against Russian advances. The paper cited multiple current and former Ukrainian officers lamenting that frontline units are now operating at between half and one third third of their required strength. This corroborates with prior statements by both Russian and Ukrainain sources regarding an extreme personnel crisis. Former chief of staff of the 12th Brigade of the Ukrainian National Guard Bogdan Krotevich, for one, lamented in late August that brigades on frontline were staffed at just 30 percent and were barely combat-ready. Russian President Vladimir Putin days later on September 4 stated that combat-ready units in the Ukrainian Armed Forces are staffed no more than 47-48 percent.
Ukrainain Army Suffering 40,000+ Desertions Per Month: Frontlines Severely Undermanned
Last cities of the original fortification line are being encircled
10,000 Ukrainian Personnel Encircled as Russians Advance Into Krasnoarmeysk and Kupiansk Cities |
