New law allows military reinstatement after AWOL until March 1

This was reported by member of the defense committee of the Verkhovna Rada, Fedir Venislavskyi, as confirmed by Espreso correspondent Kateryna Halko.

He reminded that on November 21, 2024, the Verkhovna Rada adopted a bill concerning the voluntary return to service of those who had absent without leave or initially committed desertion.

According to this bill, the commander of a unit has the right to reinstate a serviceman who has returned from desertion to the unit's personnel list within 72 hours.

"This provision was in effect until January 1 of this year. At the request of the General Staff and the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine, we made the necessary amendments during the second reading and extended the deadline for this provision until March 1 of this year," Venislavskyi informed.

He clarified that this law does not address the criminal responsibility of servicemen who have committed criminal offenses.

"This is strictly about reinstating them to military service. There was a very strange situation where a person returning from desertion could not start performing their duties for two or three months. Now, we have reduced this period to three days. Criminal responsibility is outside the scope of this law," the MP added.

On voluntary return absent without leave

From the beginning of 2022 to September 2024, the Prosecutor General's Office registered almost 60,000 criminal proceedings on the fact of voluntary abandonment of a unit and about 30,000 on desertion.

In November 2024, the parliament adopted Bill No. 12095 on voluntary return to service for those who first voluntarily left military units or deserted. And later, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy signed the relevant law.

The State Investigation Bureau later stated that servicemen who return to their units after voluntary abandonment of service by January 1, 2025, will be restored with all social guarantees

Deputy Head of the Presidential Office Iryna Vereshchuk reported on January 5 that the idea of ​​extending the term for voluntary return to service of military personnel after the absence without leave is currently being discussed.