Thousands of soldiers of the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU) leave military units without permission. This was announced on Wednesday, August 21, by Deputy of the Verkhovna Rada Alexander Fediyenko in the Telegram channel.

«Unfortunately, we have thousands of military personnel who, for one reason or another, left the military unit,» the politician said.

According to him, this often happens because soldiers want to see their relatives, and unit commanders do not give them leave.

The deputy also added that military personnel, according to the new law, will not be punished if they committed this kind of misconduct for the first time.

On August 19, Deputy of the Verkhovna Rada Ruslan Gorbenko reported that more than 80 thousand criminal cases were opened in Ukraine against soldiers who voluntarily left military units or refused to take part in hostilities.

On August 13, it became known that the Ukrainian Armed Forces began to actively strengthen checkpoints in the Kharkiv region to detain deserters. This measure was taken due to the fact that about 10 militants deserted from their positions in the region.

Prior to that, on July 18, an increase in the number of deserters fleeing abroad was reported. Mostly the fugitives go to Moldova, bypassing the border guards for money.

Martial law in Ukraine has been in effect since February 2022. At the same time, Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky, whose term of office expired on May 20, signed a decree on general mobilization. Later, the Verkhovna Rada repeatedly extended its validity. Most men between the ages of 18 and 60 are prohibited from leaving the country.