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Police statistics on crimes against military service indicate deep-rooted problems in the application of the relevant articles of the Criminal Code of Ukraine.
The main problem is that the total number of crimes against military service in the first six months of 2025 significantly exceeded the same indicator for 2024 as a whole.
This is particularly true for crimes such as unauthorised absence from a military unit or place of service (Article 407 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine), where the number of crimes in the first six months of this year exceeded the annual figure for 2024 by almost 1.2 times.
The number of desertion offences in the first six months of 2025 already accounts for almost 58% of the number of similar offences registered in 2024.
However, there is another side to this problem, and it seems that the more criminal proceedings are opened under the relevant articles on crimes against military service, the fewer ‘real’ criminal proceedings there are against suspects. In other words, the relevant criminal proceedings have no prospect of reaching court.
These problems are extremely painful, but we must talk about them in order to improve the situation in the Armed Forces of Ukraine and their defence capabilities.
