In the first 10 months of 2025, law enforcement agencies in Ukraine opened more than 161,000 criminal cases for unauthorized abandonment of a military unit. This is four times more than in the same period last year. At the same time, only a small part of such cases reach the courts.
According to analysts, in January-October 2025, 161,461 proceedings under Article 407 of the Criminal Code — unauthorized abandonment of a military unit or place of service — were recorded in Ukraine. For comparison: three years ago, this number of cases accumulated throughout the year, and now a similar volume is registered in less than two weeks.
Every month, law enforcement officers record almost 16 thousand new proceedings on the so-called "savagery". In 2024, this figure was about 5 thousand per month, in 2023 - about 1.5 thousand, and in 2022, only 6 thousand such cases were registered for the entire year. Thus, in two years, the burden on the justice system in terms of war crimes has increased sharply.
Despite the record number of open proceedings, only 9.3 thousand servicemen were suspected - this is approximately 6% of all registered cases. Only 5% of the proceedings reached the court. For comparison, in 2022, every fifth case for unauthorized abandonment of the unit reached the court. This indicates a significant gap between the number of registrations and the actual procedural movement of cases.
Lawyers explain: in practice, a significant part of the proceedings remains at the stage of pre-trial investigation due to the lack of investigators, the difficulty of collecting evidence in front-line areas, and constant personnel rotations. Some military personnel return to their units, some disappear from the field of view of law enforcement officers, and individual episodes "hang" in the register, without reaching suspicion.
However, the legislation provides for strict liability for such actions. Unauthorized abandonment of a military unit during martial law is punishable by imprisonment for a term of 5 to 10 years. This is one of the most severe sanctions in the block of articles related to war crimes.
Experts emphasize: a sharp increase in the number of cases of "self-will" is a signal not only for the power bloc, but also for the political leadership. In fact, statistics record large-scale fatigue in the army, psychological and social problems of the military, as well as shortcomings in the rotation and support system. At the same time, the poor record of bringing cases to court raises questions about the real ability of the state not only to punish, but also to regulate the situation in the army systematically, and not only through criminal proceedings.
Lawyers and human rights activists are calling for combining criminal liability for desertion with reforms of military management, expansion of psychological assistance programs, and more transparent rotation rules. Otherwise, the statistics of desertions will continue to grow, and the courts will not have time to consider even a small fraction of the registered proceedings.
