The problem of unauthorized absence (AWOL) in the National Guard of Ukraine exists but is not critical: of several thousand fighters, every other one has returned to service, National Guard commander Major General Oleksandr Pivnenko said.
"There is an AWOL problem, of course… From training centers, 4% have gone AWOL over this period. That is basically nothing. From temporary deployment points, where people gather and know they are heading to, say, the Pokrovsk axis the next day — that is where it is highest," Pivnenko said in an exclusive interview with Interfax-Ukraine.
He noted that fighters go AWOL most often at a distance of 50-100 km from the front line, in near-front areas.
According to Pivnenko, military personnel leave medical facilities less frequently.
"Over this entire period, several thousand fighters have gone AWOL, of whom we have already retrieved 45%. That is, every second or third one we bring back… We do not have a critical problem. And we are still working on it," the National Guard commander stressed.
As previously reported, in January, ahead of his appointment as defense minister, Mykhailo Fedorov told the Verkhovna Rada that 2 million Ukrainians are currently being sought by military recruitment centers, with another 200,000 AWOL.
On June 4, the State Bureau of Investigations said that a special internal mechanism had been introduced since May for AWOL military personnel willing to return to service, allowing investigators to promptly carry out the full range of procedural steps toward closing criminal proceedings under article 407 of the Criminal Code (unauthorized abandonment of a unit or place of service) and article 408 (desertion). Within a month, more than 1,700 servicemembers and their representatives had already contacted the SBI.
On June 13, the Ministry of Defense said that servicemembers who went AWOL before June 12, 2026 may return to service by September 20, 2026 under a new procedure — without reserve battalions and with the ability to independently choose a unit from a provided list.
After a report is approved in the Army+ app, a "En route" status appears, confirming that the servicemember is voluntarily returning to service and allowing five days to report to the new unit.
In total, more than 50 units are participating in the program, with the list to be updated monthly. The list of units to which a return report can be submitted is determined by the Ministry of Defense for the armed forces and the State Special Transport Service, and by the National Guard headquarters for the National Guard. However, return is only possible to units on the approved list, meaning exclusively within one’s own structure — from the armed forces only back to the armed forces, from the National Guard only to the National Guard, and from the State Special Transport Service only to the State Special Transport Service.
