Over the past 72 hours, some 3,000 servicemen who were in unauthorized abandonment of the unit, voluntarily returned to duty, and over the past month, 6,000 servicemen returned to the ranks of the Armed Forces of Ukraine from unauthorized abandonment of the unit, the Military Law Enforcement Service said.

"Over the past month, 6,000 servicemen returned to the ranks of the Armed Forces of Ukraine...in 72 hours [after the law came into force], about 3,000 returned to duty," Deputy Chief of the Main Directorate of the AFU Military Law Enforcement Service Oleksandr Hrynchuk said at a briefing in Kyiv on Tuesday.

Answering the question about the exact number of servicemen currently in the status of unauthorized abandonment of the unit, Hrynchuk said: "This figure, like the number of our Armed Forces, is sensitive." According to him, this information is often presented in a distorted form and works for the enemy.

"The law enforcement service takes into account cases of unauthorized abandonment of the unit... A serviceman can return [within three days to the unit], when he has already been taken into account," he said.

Hrynchuk noted that a large percentage of servicemen return to military service on their own: "Of the total number of cases, this is approximately 40-60%."

Also, as he explained, there are cases of misunderstanding and incorrect classification of the actions of a serviceman by the commander. "Disobedience, failure to follow an order - and they are sent to unauthorized abandonment of the unit."

Earlier, the Financial Times said the number of criminal cases opened by Ukrainian law enforcement agencies on the facts of unauthorized abandonment of the unit and desertion in 2024 is 60,000. At the same time, the publication notes that the number of deserters for ten months of 2024 is twice as much as in 2022 and 2023. The Financial Times also clarifies that about a dozen Ukrainian servicemen per month, who were trained and trained in Poland, remained abroad.

The Polish Ministry of Defense later confirmed that there are cases of desertion of Ukrainian military personnel, but their number is insignificant.

Interfax-Ukraine has updated data on the number of criminal cases opened in Ukraine on unauthorized abandonment of the unit and desertion. As of December 2024, this figure is about 100,000. However, it is not relevant, since we are talking about all the records of law enforcement agencies. These statistics also include a significant number of those servicemen who insisted on being transferred to other units. Since such transfers were "frozen" in 2023, it is not possible to talk about the real number of those who voluntarily left their units or deserted, and who transferred to serve in other units.

The agency's source in the General Staff did not name the total number of unauthorized abandonment of the unit cases, noting that this figure is not disclosed due to sensitivity to state security, but indicated that it is less than what is reported in the media. The source also specified that over the past month, more than 6,000 servicemen who voluntarily left their units have returned to service.

In May 2024, Director of the State Bureau of Investigations (SBI) Oleksiy Sukhachov told Interfax-Ukraine that the department, together with the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, the Military Law Enforcement Service, the Security Service of Ukraine and the National Police, is facilitating the return of soldiers to their positions, and is not improving the statistics of criminal cases. The law adopted by the Verkhovna Rada in November 2024 and signed by the President allows military personnel who committed unauthorized abandonment of the unit for the first time to return to their units before January 1, 2025, with the renewal of their contract and all relevant payments, while the criminal proceedings against them will be closed.

According to statistics on criminal offenses, in 2022, a total of more than 6,000 unauthorized abandonment of the unit cases and more than 3,000 desertions were recorded, in 2023 - more than 16,000 and 7,000, respectively. As of October 2024 - more than 40,000 and more than 19,000, respectively.

According to statistics from the State Judicial Administration, some 1,500 Ukrainian military personnel were convicted of committing unauthorized abandonment of the unit in 2023. In total, over the past year, courts have sentenced 2,500 military personnel who committed various types of war crimes, including unauthorized abandonment of the unit and desertion, while in 2022 this figure was 1,500.