Ellie Cook
The number of Ukrainian soldiers deserting their positions has soared in 2024, according to a new report, as Kyiv contends with persistent Russian advances and uncertainty over what the new year will hold for its war effort.
More Ukrainian soldiers deserted between January and the end of October this year than in the previous two years of full-scale war with Russia, the Financial Times reported on Sunday.
Kyiv prosecutors opened 60,000 cases against soldiers for leaving their positions between the start of the year and October, according to the report, totaling nearly twice the number in 2022 and 2023 combined.
Over 100,000 soldiers have been charged for desertion since February 2022, The Associated Press reported late last month, citing Ukraine's prosecutor general's office. Newsweek has reached out to the Ukrainian military for comment via email.
Ukrainian soldiers on November 11, 2024, in Toretsk, Ukraine. The number of Ukrainian soldiers deserting their positions has soared in 2024, according to a new report. Kostiantyn Liberov/Libkos/Getty Images
Throughout 2024, Moscow has made significant gains in Ukraine's east, advancing at its fastest pace since the early weeks of the war and claiming key settlements like Avdiivka, a former Ukrainian stronghold in the eastern Donetsk region, in February. The Kremlin is now threatened Pokrovsk, a strategic hub for Ukrainian troops not far from the Donetsk border with the neighboring Dnipropetrovsk region.
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Russia and Ukraine, nearly three years into the all-out war effort, have both struggled to add new recruits to their armed forces.
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