More than 161,000 criminal proceedings on unauthorized abandonment of a military unit (UAW) were opened in the first 10 months of 2025, according to the Prosecutor General’s Office of Ukraine. This is 4 times more than in the same period last year. Every month, law enforcement officers register almost 16,000 new cases of AWOL. So far, only 5% of cases have gone to court.
161,461 cases of unauthorized leaving of a military unit (Article 407 of the Criminal Code) were recorded in 10 months of 2025. This is 4 times more than in the same period last year.
The number of cases that took 12 months to accumulate three years ago is now recorded in less than two weeks. Every month, law enforcement officers register almost 16,000 new cases of “unauthorized absence,” while in 2024 there were about 5,000 per month, in 2023 – only 1,500, and in 2022 – only 6,000 for the entire year.
Despite the record number of proceedings, only 9,300 servicemen were served with suspicion notices, which is about 6% of all registered cases, and only 5% went to trial. For comparison, back in 2022, every fifth case went to trial.
It should be reminded that until August 30, 2025, a simplified mechanism for returning servicemen after the Joint Forces Operation without criminal liability was in place. Thus, soldiers who wished to continue their service could apply and return to the army in a reserve unit within 72 hours.
However, this option was available to soldiers who had completed their service before May 10. Those who did so after that date could return only to the unit they left, and reinstatement could take months.
It should be noted that unauthorized leaving of a military unit under martial law is punishable by imprisonment for a term of 5 to 10 years.
https://opendatabot.ua/analytics/awol-2025
