In October 2025, the Armed Forces of Ukraine recorded a record number of cases of unauthorized abandonment of units (AUs) — 21,602 servicemen. This was reported by former MP, current commander of a drone company Ihor Lutsenko.
According to him, official statistics only partially reflect the real scale of the problem. Some cases of desertion are not registered, so the actual number of soldiers who left their units without permission may be significantly higher.
"Every two minutes, a person escapes from our army. This is only official statistics. In reality, many cases of unauthorized abandonment of units or desertion remain unregistered," Lutsenko noted.
He stressed that such a situation poses a serious threat to the country's defense capabilities. According to the officer, even an army forced to retreat can win a war, but an army that is falling apart from within, losing people through desertion, cannot.
The reasons for the mass abandonment of units, according to experts, lie in the exhaustion of personnel, lack of rotations, bureaucracy in the military leadership, and the lack of sufficient social support for the military.
Analysts also emphasize that the increase in the number of SZCH may indicate a deeper crisis - moral and psychological fatigue among fighters who are fighting without long vacations and without a clear perspective of rotation.
The problem of the NWCH, according to military experts, requires not only punitive measures, but above all a systemic approach - the creation of conditions in which the military will not feel forgotten.
If the trend continues, the army risks losing not only personnel but also morale, which is key in any war.
