War in Ukraine: Ukraine brings back over 29,000 flagpoles with amnesty

The Ukraine, defending against Russia’s invasion against Russia’s invasion, lured thousands of deserters back into its armed forces. “Thanks to the law, between November 29, 2024 and August 2025, over 29,000 fighters who have left their unity returned to the service,” said the director of the state investigative office, Olexij Suchhatchev, the Interfax-Ukraine news agency. The law guarantees soldiers who have been unauthorized from the troop for the first time when they are voluntary return.

According to Suchhatzev, the novella had been worked out in cooperation with the army. According to the official statistics, however, over 122,000 new cases of flag escape were registered in the same period.

Fleet escapes remain mass phenomenon

Deserion and unauthorized absence from the troop are a mass phenomenon in the Ukrainian army. Since the beginning of the war up to and including the first half of 2025, the public prosecutor’s office recorded almost 224,000 cases. The number of unreported cases should be much higher. Only a small percentage is persecuted by the legal protection organs and brought to court.

According to President Wolodymyr Selenskyj, the army recruits up to 30,000 new soldiers per month. According to estimates, the monthly losses due to death, wounding, capture and deserting are at least the same height.

Even with forced recruitment on the street, violent resistance is repeatedly resisted, passers -by solidarity with the men. It was only on Sunday that, according to the police, villagers in the South Ukrainian area Mykolajiw beat military bunnies with sticks and steel pipes. In Winnyzja, West Ukrain, a crowd of mobilized men from a football stadium tried to free a crowd on last Friday and could only be prevented from a larger police contingent.

Ukraine has been defending itself against the Russian invasion for more than three years.