“Mykhailo Fedorov said that two million citizens are currently wanted in Ukraine, 200,000 have voluntarily left the military”, — write: www.radiosvoboda.org
“I don’t want to be a populist, I want to be a realist. The Ministry of Defense falls into my hands with minus 300 billion, two million Ukrainians who are wanted, and 200,000 in the SZH (voluntary abandonment of a part). Therefore, we need to decide to do our homework on the problems that exist today in order to be able to move forward,” he said before the Verkhovna Rada vote on his approval as the new Minister of Defense.
Fedorov did not specify where he got this data from.
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Military serviceman of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and former People’s Deputy Ihor Lutsenko previously stated that in October 2025, 21,602 cases of SZH were recorded. He is sure that the SZH and desertion are the main problem of the Ukrainian army.
Earlier, the Prosecutor General’s Office reported that during the full-scale war in Ukraine, almost 300,000 cases were initiated for the SZH and desertion. Most of the cases were initiated during the past year.
On September 4, the Verkhovna Rada adopted in the first reading draft law No. 13260, which provides for the return of criminal liability for servicemen for the first voluntary desertion of a military unit (SZH).
People’s deputy from “Servant of the People” and member of the Committee on National Security, Defense and Intelligence, Oleksandr Fedienko, said on Radio Svoboda (the Svoboda Live project) that the Verkhovna Rada could adopt a law on the return of criminal responsibility for the voluntary abandonment of a military unit as early as the beginning of 2026.
After the start of the Russian full-scale invasion of Ukraine on February 24, martial law was introduced and general mobilization was announced.