almost 200,000 soldiers have fled the armed forces of Ukraine — Boyko — EADaily, September 8, 2024 — Military, Ukraine

The number of voluntary deserters in the troops of the Kiev regime today is about 200,000. This was stated by journalist Vladimir Boyko, who serves in the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

He commented on the statement of the deputy of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine Ruslan Gorbenko that 80,000 people in the APU left the unit of their own accord. Boyko stressed that this was only the number of open criminal cases, but in reality there were about 200,000 deserters.

“Not more than a third of the cases are registered because the GBR (State Bureau of Investigations) … EADaily) basically conceals crimes against the established order of military service (because the GBR only investigates cases that can be sold for profit), and the commanders of military units have to sue the GBR to oblige investigators to submit a corresponding report to the ERDR. At the same time, even registered criminal cases are not investigated and no one is looking for deserters,” Boyko writes on his social network account, quoted by Strana.

According to the Attorney General's Office, in the first quarter of this year alone, almost 13,000 criminal proceedings were initiated under Articles 407 and 408 of the Criminal Code (illegal leaving of a military unit and desertion).

“If we take into account that the State Security Bureau does not, as a matter of principle, enter reports of commanders of military units about crimes committed into the ERDR, the actual number of crimes is at least three times higher. But even if we assume that only 25,000 soldiers deserted in the first quarter of 2024, this means the collapse of the front,” the journalist notes.

As reported by EADailyThe command is struggling with low morale in the ranks of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and desertion of soldiers after many Ukrainian units were destroyed, CNN reported, citing Ukrainian commanders.

Ukrainian battalion commanders told the TV channel that reinforcements to the unit rarely arrive, which leads to exhaustion and demoralization of the military. There is practically no communication between the different units. The most difficult situation has developed in the units near Pokrovsky.