Ukraine's Voiceless Army: Ukrainian Deserters Speak Out ---- Although
the mass desertion of Ukrainian Armed Forces personnel has alreadybecome one of the largest acts of civil disobedience in the country's
history since 1991, foreign media remain almost completely silent on the
subject. Since the end of last year, the number of criminal prosecutions
under Articles 407 (unauthorized abandonment of a military unit, or
SZCh) and 408 (desertion) of the Ukrainian Criminal Code has remained
stable at approximately 17,000 per month. During the first eight months
of 2025, 142,711 criminal proceedings were registered under these
articles, and since the beginning of the full-scale invasion[February
24, 2022], as of September 1, 2025, a total of 265,843 cases have been
registered in Ukraine.
In an effort to reduce this flow at least to some extent, the Ukrainian
parliament approved Bill No. 13260 in its first reading on September 4,
restoring criminal liability for military deserters. Previously, it was
possible to avoid prosecution by voluntarily returning to military
service. This provision was extended several times, until its expiration
on August 30, 2025. The bill now proposes to remove the court's ability
to apply measures to mitigate punishment. In his September interview
with Sky News, the Supreme Butcher stated that Ukraine no longer sends
its military personnel for training abroad, where so many soldiers have
disappeared from training camps and received protection.
The nature of this phenomenon is revealed by verified testimonies,
published exclusively by Assembly this summer. Here is the testimony
from the Vinnytsia region about the sending of former SZCh members to
assault units, that is, to certain death:
"Well, dear friends and brothers in misfortune, I find myself in this
hell for the second time.
This time,[they caught me when]I wasn't hiking[to cross the border], but
simply walking down the street. The cops chased me, cut me off, and then
took me to the Military Law-Enforcement Service. This didn't happen to
me because I was living the good life; I was on my way to work and got
caught.
And then it was pure hell, there's no other way to describe it.
They treated us worse than animals, smoking was allowed only under
supervision and at strict hours, there was no telephone, no possibility
of calling, etc. I won't talk about food or lodging, although I can't
say that I really starved to death.
Then one morning,[army]representatives arrived, spoke eloquently, and
invited us to serve the homeland. Almost everyone refused. Then a bus
arrived and[they took us]to the dispatch center.
Barracks, guards armed with automatic rifles all around the perimeter,
several people at a time go to the store under heavy guard,
again[army]representatives, and you refuse, but they take you anyway and
send you to the barracks to await your transfer. Trainings
take place almost every two hours, and you wait, with your ass clenched,
for your brigade to be called up, hoping to stay one more day in the
barracks and finally get out of this mess.
There are other guys around you, their eyes scanning in all directions,
looking for a way out just like you, but the longer you hang around the
compound, the more that hope fades...
Everyone understands perfectly well that all the brigades they've been
assigned to are airborne assault forces, and you probably don't have
long to live. As one of them said: "Guys, you won't have any basic
military training; three or four days maximum to prepare, and then
you're off."
I don't know how to describe it in one word. I've heard so many stories
about what's happening on the front, it's just horrible...
I escaped, miraculously escaped! I won't tell you how, I'll just say it
was incredibly daring and stupid, but it worked. I just realized I had
no other choice and had to take the risk.
I didn't join military unit 7020[a reserve battalion in the Gaisyn
district], I was in the village of Rakhny. You can't escape from there
like that, unless you try at night. Things have changed a bit lately.
Before, the children said, you could call a taxi, go to the store, and
leave.
Everyone there was SZCh. The guy tried to go, but they sent him to the
225th[Assault Regiment]. I refused everywhere; they literally dragged me
by the hand.
What I want to say to those who are already in the SZCh: Guys, don't
take unnecessary risks. You never know where you'll end up the second
time or how it might end.
Peace and all the best to everyone. Sooner or later, all this will end.
Of course, I'd like it to be as soon as possible.
The fate of fugitives who were arrested while trying to cross the border
after escaping is particularly tragic. This Odessa speaker was captured
this summer right on the border with the unrecognized Moldovan Republic
of Transnistria, where, two months later, a Ukrainian border guard shot
dead a civilian refugee:
Where I was, there was a waist-high fence, then a barbed wire fence, and
beyond that, a ditch. I simply jumped over the first one. The fence was
chain-link, with barbed wire at waist height and on top. I simply
climbed over it, without throwing anything from above. I grabbed the top
support with my hand, stepped on the waist-high barbed wire, climbed up,
and then jumped over it.
The border guards were even surprised that the fence wasn't damaged. I
only had to get out of the ditch to be free, but they saw me and pulled
me out. I was unlucky enough to be about 50 meters from where they were
stationed. I was in the process of jumping over the fence, they heard
me, shouted "Stop!" ", I ran and fell into a ditch about five meters
high and six meters wide. Result: a broken or cracked rib.
I wasn't in the hospital, so I'm not sure. They took me to the Military
Police, where I spent three days. When I was taken to the investigator,
I escaped and am now recovering at home for the next attempt.
A conscripted fugitive living in Kharkiv speaks eloquently about the
social situation of new army recruits:
It's very hard for the homeless now; the military recruiting offices
round up almost all of them, specifically... I myself traveled recently
in a minibus. There were two drug addicts, two homeless people, a poor
man, and another one who was talking to himself. Basically, as I
understand it, it's because they try to round them up in places with few
people, early in the morning, in yards, behind garages, and so on. And
that's how they gather this contingent. It's a real zoo, and in there,
the homeless are the most normal. The recruiting, of course, is
incredible; you really feel victory is just around the corner...
A year ago, they let people go if they saw the slightest problem. But
now they round up everyone; only the problematic people remain. There
are no more volunteer fighters; Everything hangs by a thread and can
collapse at any moment, even if the actor[Zelensky]and his gang don't
understand it.[...]There are only a few left of those who have been
fighting since 2022. Everyone is looking for a way to leave the service,
under any pretext: there are 200,000 SZCh men.
The younger ones, those who still have arms and legs, are fleeing. Those
who remain are the poor and homeless, suffering from many diseases. They
are our only hope, but something tells me that you won't last long
fighting them. They are demotivated; it's just harder for a homeless
person to escape; they have nowhere to go and are afraid. So they stay.
All they can do is drink while on leave. Unfortunately, homeless people
are often sent to dirty units, from which it is simply harder to escape.
The following story, told by a Kharkiv warehouse worker about his
comrade who returned to the city last year after leaving the Zaporozhye
Front with his entire company and commander, also illustrates how the
dispersal and passivity of deserting Ukrainian soldiers prevent them
from developing their revolutionary potential, despite their
considerable numbers and combat experience:
He was busified[taken off the street, forcibly conscripted, and sent to
the front]in 2023. He stayed there for about a year. We thought that was
it for him; he's been quiet and intimidated his whole life. He
reappears, and everyone is shocked. He's fine. He's an orphan who grew
up in an orphanage. Before the war, he bought a room in a shared
apartment. No one's looking for him. He's not going anywhere. He's not
working. He has a little money. He probably earned it. And how much does
he need, after all? Just enough to eat. He runs out to do the shopping
in the evening and sits quietly in his room. He always has a choice.
And, generally, only dogs are useful; humans work.
Mass desertion from the army has deep roots in Ukrainian history, dating
back to the colonization of the country's eastern regions in the 17th
century. The vast steppe territories known as the "Wild Fields," along
with settlers sent by the Central Russian administration, were settled
by Ukrainian Cossacks and peasants fleeing the oppression of Polish
feudal lords, determined to obey only their elected chieftains. For a
time, they enjoyed autonomy and privileges from the Russian government.
This legacy later manifested itself vividly in the social revolution of
1917-1918, which followed the collapse of the tsarist army. The
dialectic of history partly reproduces the two previous stages of the
class struggle under new conditions.
However, the WSWS's description of the situation in the United States is
clearly applicable to the current situation in Ukraine:
"The great danger lies in the enormous gap that remains between the
scale of these conspiracies and the level of popular awareness of what
is happening. This must change. Trump's actions do not enjoy broad
popular support. The American people as a whole want neither
dictatorship nor fascism. The general sentiment is one of opposition,
but this must be mobilized consciously and collectively."
As long as Ukrainian defectors remain a silent, amorphous mass, living
from day to day and trusting only their closest friends, the wheel of
death will continue to turn, as more and more people will be kidnapped,
more of those who managed to escape.
assembly.org.ua (Kharkiv)
- - - -
"Why and for whom do we fight, if no one needs us?"
mutinies and disobedience in the Russian army
Over the past year, the Russian military has seen several high-profile
cases of soldiers rebelling against their superiors.
October 2024 : Russian military personnel in the Kursk region refused to
obey their commanders' orders and launch an assault, complaining that
they were being treated like cannon fodder and sent to fortified
positions of the Ukrainian armed forces.
November 2024 : In one of the military units in the Novosibirsk region,
servicemen mutinied and organized a prison break. In response to
mistreatment by their superiors, the refusal to provide them with
medical care, and, most importantly, plans to send them to the front,
ten servicemen from the unit in the village of Kochenevo smashed
windows, vandalized the barracks building, and then left the village in
a taxi. According to the Kochenevo district authorities, security forces
managed to capture four of them. Later, the pro-Kremlin newspaper Mash
published descriptions of the servicemen, revealing their names,
surnames, and other personal data.
February 2025 : A new rebellion breaks out among Russian soldiers
refusing to go to the front. On February 28, about a hundred soldiers
who, for various reasons, refused to go to the front (some of them, for
example, walk with crutches due to injuries and also suffer from vision
problems) were expelled from the Cheboksary region. They were forcibly
loaded onto buses and housed in a camp located 20 km from the city's
airport. There, they demanded to be allowed to write a demobilization
report, but the administration decided to force them onto a plane bound
for Rostov, from where they were to be transported to the front. In
response, they revolted.
April 2025 : On April 18, on the territory of the Krasnodar garrison
military command, more than 100 servicemen arrested for "voluntary
abandonment of the unit" staged a mutiny upon learning that some
detainees were being released for money, breaking through the fence, and
fleeing, prompting the authorities to organize patrols in the territory.
According to the servicemen's relatives, many of them were disabled.
This was also confirmed by local residents in their comments on this news:
"They are not all here. The boys who returned from military service with
injuries-many have already closed their cases-but they are not allowed
to leave. Not only those who fled or did not return on time are being
released, but also those who have been hospitalized for a long time,
thanks to certain commanders. Many of them are there with varying
degrees of incapacity, but we must get rid of them; why waste the new
ones? They are not letting them go home, in violation of internal
regulations." It's worse than in the region. Some treat their cattle
better than the living conditions there, pardon the comparison."
June 2025 : Near the town of Nizhnia Duvanka in the Luhansk region,
several Russian deserters killed the commander of a military police
platoon and two of his subordinates, after which they fled the front.
The Voice of the Anarchists (Telegram Channel)
Interview on the current situation of deserters from the Ukrainian army
Vladislav deserted the Ukrainian army and now lives in a European
country. We asked him a few questions to clarify the current situation
for deserters.
1) You are a deserter who fled the Ukrainian front across the Romanian
mountains. You managed to escape, both you and your cat. How are you
feeling now? Are you both okay?
Hello. Overall, much better than in Ukraine. True, I sometimes
experience attacks from SBU[Security Service of Ukraine]officers,
including politically motivated provocations and insults, but EU
residents treat me very well; I have not noticed any violations of my
rights by EU citizens during my entire stay. In July 2025, my cat Persik
went out for a walk in the street and did not return. Only after
registering his microchip did the animal shelter contact me to inform me
that, according to the person who brought him to the shelter, my cat
Persik had been hit by a car. However, the bodily injuries found on him
could indicate that this was an intentional act. I'm gathering evidence.
But overall, the cat is alive and well, with no after-effects.
2) Forced conscription into the army is in effect in Ukraine. Many men
refuse to serve in the army. Many also want to desert. Do you have any
advice for them?
Yes. Upon arrival at the recruitment center, refuse to undergo a medical
examination to determine your fitness for military service. If the
situation is critical, I recommend feigning mental illness, for example,
by soiling your cell with your feces. Personally, in Ukraine, I always
carried a razor blade with me to cut my wrists in case I was sent to a
Ukrainian army training center. These methods are effective: the
employees of the training center are obliged to send the person for a
psychiatric examination, which increases the chances of escape. I do not
encourage anyone to self-harm. You can leave the psychiatric hospital,
but not from a coffin. Personally, if I ended up being interned in a
training center, I planned to cut my wrists and defile the center's
premises with my excrement. Since childhood, I have suffered from two
illnesses: obsessive-compulsive disorder and attention deficit
hyperactivity disorder, but in Ukraine, these pathologies are not enough
to exclude you from military service. After all, the military is
surprised that such individuals shoot at army commanders. However, the
mere fact that these individuals have access to weapons can encourage
their use, even in the case of a simple offense from the army's higher-ups.
3) How can Europeans help deserters?
EU citizens already provide significant assistance to deserters.
However, legally, an EU decision on the inadmissibility of the
extradition and expulsion of deserters would help prevent the torture to
which these people are subjected in Ukraine. I agree that offenders who
committed crimes before fleeing Ukraine must be punished. However, the
judgment handed down by the Ukrainian court can be enforced on EU
territory. This would be a guarantee against political persecution.
Ukraine and Russia are inspired by the practices of the Soviet KGB and
use cases from ten years ago to put pressure on undesirables. In
addition, these countries can fabricate criminal cases to exert pressure
and stop actions that do not please these totalitarian regimes. I urge
the EU not to recognize the convictions handed down by Russian and
Ukrainian courts against men during the war. These cases are often
politically motivated.
4) A new law is currently being debated in Ukraine. It will worsen the
situation of deserters who have fled to Europe. What exactly does this
law provide?
Yes. Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Sviridenko, whose brother defected
to London during the war, has introduced a bill in the Verkhovna Rada
that criminalizes fleeing Ukraine and failing to repatriate deserters
within 90 days of the law's adoption. The goal is to transfer
jurisdiction over these criminal cases to the SBU and propose trying
them in absentia. In fact, the Ukrainian totalitarian regime plans to
equate fleeing Ukraine with treason against the state, participation in
organized crime, or crimes against world peace and security. This
demonstrates that the SBU is beginning to resemble the KGB of the USSR
and is being used to exert pressure on those who displease the Ukrainian
totalitarian regime. Yesterday, the Verkhovna Rada granted the SBU the
right to submit bills to the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine on its own
initiative, which I consider an usurpation of state power, since,
according to the Ukrainian Constitution, lawmaking falls under the
exclusive competence of the Verkhovna Rada. In fact, the Ukrainian
regime allows the SBU to submit laws that benefit the regime, which is
unacceptable for an executive branch.
In order to prevent the persecution of defectors, I am creating the
Order of Resistance to the Ukrainian Totalitarian Regime by legal means.
5) Does this mean that these laws will give EU police and courts the
right to prosecute deserters within the EU?
Yes and no. If the bill is adopted, the authorities will be able to try
deserters in absentia on Ukrainian territory and, based on a Ukrainian
court decision, demand that EU authorities declare them internationally
wanted in order to extradite them to Ukraine. Since trials in absentia
directly violate fair trial guarantees, in particular Article 6 of the
Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms,
any sentences handed down in these cases will be condemnatory. The
totalitarian regime's goal is to gain as much cannon fodder as possible
from the EU and will do everything possible to achieve this.
Of course, EU countries can ignore extradition requests for these types
of crimes, as they are political in nature, but my personal opinion is
that EU authorities will comply with such requests.
6) Could these laws also lead to the deportation of deserters to Ukraine?
Yes. But these are not deportations, but extraditions as criminals under
Ukrainian law. These people are unlikely to end up at the front, because
immediately after being handed over to the Ukrainian authorities, they
will be imprisoned to serve their sentences. However, in Ukrainian
prisons, they face threats of torture by the authorities, as well as
pressure to sign contracts for detainees. If they sign such contracts,
these people are immediately sent to the front to fight the Russian
armed forces. It is not expected that these people will serve in the
army without directly participating in combat.
7) What other problems will deserters face if these laws are implemented
in Ukraine?
They will have to obtain refugee status. Only this status can prevent
the Ukrainian authorities' extradition request from being granted.
Obtaining this status can take years, or even decades in some cases. As
long as the deserter retains his or her asylum status, he or she will
not be allowed to work or leave the country where he or she filed his or
her application. His or her place of residence will be determined by the
immigration authorities, and he or she will receive a minimal allowance
and reduced health insurance covering only medical emergencies. In
effect, the asylum seeker is deprived of the fundamental rights that
allow him or her to move freely within the EU, work, and freely choose
his or her place of residence. The funds provided to asylum seekers are
barely enough to cover their personal expenses, except for food, hygiene
products, and minimal basic needs. Excerpt from the Anti-Militarist
Initiative
blog
Russia: Sabotage and Insubordination on the Rise
In the first six months of 2025, as many people have already been
convicted of sabotage as in the whole of 2024. Most of them are minors
or under 25 years old.
October 21, 2025
The publication "Vazhnye historii / Vazhnye istorii" ("Important
Stories") revealed that in the first six months of 2025, 48 people were
sentenced to real terms for sabotage under Article 281 of the Russian
Criminal Code. This is as many as in all of 2024, the journalists write,
citing court data.
The majority of those convicted were minors and people under the age of
25. Twelve people aged 16-17 were sentenced, and another 24 aged 18-24.
Most of those sentenced received prison terms ranging from 11 to 15 years.
Since the start of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, 170 teenagers aged 14
to 17 and 875 people under 25 have been convicted of treason, espionage,
terrorism, and sabotage. They constitute a third of all those convicted
on these charges since 2022.
Important Stories has also identified other trends. For example, there
has been an increase in the number of people convicted of
terrorism-related offenses. "In the first half of 2025, 654 people were
convicted of these offenses, which is 1.8 times more than in the same
period the previous year," the publication states.
A similar increase is observed in the context of articles for
"extremism" (Articles 280, 280.1-4, 282, and 282.1-4 of the Russian
Criminal Code). 504 people were convicted in the first 6 months of 2025,
which is 1.5 times more than in the same period in 2024. This is the
highest figure since at least 2018.
Russians are also increasingly being convicted for refusing to perform
military service (Article 328, Part 1, of the Criminal Code). During the
first half of 2025, 580 people were sentenced under this article, more
than in 2023 and 2024, but still at the same level as in 2022, the year
the authorities announced the mobilization.
Sources: Important Stories , Doxa
- - - -
A contribution on military mobilization in Russia
How is the mobilization of soldiers going in Putin's Russia? How much
coercion, harassment, and pressure do men of military age who are sent
to the front face? How is the Russian population, and especially the
working class, reacting to all this? Since we often ask ourselves these
kinds of questions, we asked a Russian anarchist to give us a clearer
picture of the situation. He responded with a brief summary of the
situation.
The censorship and war propaganda implemented by the Putin regime seek
to conceal the terrible reality from the rest of the world. On the other
hand, we are witnessing pro-Ukrainian propaganda portraying the Russian
population as a mass of loyal supporters of Putinism, voluntarily
rushing into war. It is sometimes difficult to perceive and grasp the
full extent of the reality. That is why we consider the testimony of our
Russian comrade to be a valuable tool.
Notes on Mobilization in Russia
Generally speaking, it should be noted from the outset that the vast
majority of Russians have a rather pacifist mentality. Since the Soviet
era, many have repeated: "If only war did not exist!" Many contemporary
Russians experienced the wars in Afghanistan and Chechnya as a
collective trauma. Popular songs have even been composed on this theme,
recounting the senseless deaths of students that occurred then. Many
Russians absolutely do not want to relive this painful experience. Even
supporters of Putin's government claimed (until 2022, of course) that
Putin would "guarantee a climate of peace." It is clear that there is a
significant militaristic minority, which currently enjoys a kind of
monopoly on information in Russia thanks to military censorship, but it
is clearly not the majority.
However, it is also important to note that the flip side of the Russian
pacifist mentality is a negative attitude called "philistinism."
Russians are against the war, but they are unwilling to actively oppose
it. This is especially true in a situation where the government has
imposed strict military censorship, is massively imprisoning those
critical of Russia's military actions, and is brutally dispersing
anti-war protests, arresting tens of thousands of people. Under these
circumstances, the average Russian is more inclined to keep a low
profile and not express their opinion. It is precisely for this reason
that many opinion polls report high support for the war and for Putin:
however, this data is false, because those who are "for" it have nothing
to fear, while those who are "against" it risk losing their freedom
under the current regime. But what society is even less willing to do is
go straight to war. Putin knows this and is therefore trying to conduct
a less draconian mobilization than the one carried out in Ukraine. The
current mobilization is mainly affecting the provinces, not Moscow,
where the visibility of the war's victims can remain minimal.
At the same time, Putin's government is trying to implement conscription
in a subtle way: officially, it does not send young men performing their
compulsory military service to the front. However, these men, once
called up, are in fact forced to sign such a contract. As you know,
humiliation, torture, and harassment of subordinates are common practice
in the Russian military. There have been high-profile cases of young men
who died during their military service due to intolerable living
conditions or after being injured in beatings. All of these men are
effectively held hostage and forced to "voluntarily" go to war. There
have also been cases where the Russian authorities have deceived
randomly selected individuals, convincing them to go under the pretext
of "earning money," and then, after getting them to sign false
documents, send them to the front without even informing their relatives.
Russians don't want to go to war, which is why many of them don't show
up at military recruitment offices; many also try to fake an illness.
For example, I know a former classmate who was an excellent student and
managed to enroll in university. But after receiving his conscription
notice, he decided to break his leg... Many also prefer to avoid
mobilization abroad, but the Russian government is working to eliminate
this possibility before 2026.
Protests against mobilization have also taken place, such as in
Dagestan. Of particular note is the movement of wives of mobilized
soldiers, who even demonstrated in front of the Kremlin walls. This is
all the more remarkable given that some of them, initially in favor of
the war, are now demanding the demobilization of soldiers. These were
mostly peaceful rallies, which nevertheless attracted widespread attention.
There have also been more violent forms of protest against the
mobilization, such as arson attacks and attacks on military recruitment
offices across the country. One such incident occurred in the city of
Ust-Ilimsk[Irkutsk region]. Ruslan Zinin, a logging truck driver from
Ust-Ilimsk, lost his 19-year-old school friend Danil while performing
his compulsory military service at the very beginning of the war in
March 2022. After the mobilization was announced, Zinin learned that his
cousin had received a summons.
On September 26, 2022, fearing for his younger brother's fate, Zinin
went to the military enlistment office and, according to an eyewitness,
tried to understand why his friend had received a summons even though he
had not served in the army. In response, the military enlistment office
staff insulted him. A little later that day, Ruslan returned to the
enlistment office, this time armed with a sawed-off shotgun, and opened
fire. For this, he was sentenced to 19 years in prison.
Excerpt from the Anti-Militarist Initiative blog
http://oclibertaire.lautre.net/spip.php?article4547
_________________________________________
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