Over 21,000 soldiers return to service under new AWOL law

The deadline for military personnel who had left their units without authorization but later voluntarily returned to service ended on March 1, 2025. This was reported by the State Bureau of Investigation (SBI)

Since the beginning of 2022, nearly 60,000 criminal cases have been registered for unauthorized desertion, with around 30,000 related to desertion. On November 21, 2024, the Ukrainian Parliament approved a bill allowing voluntary return to service for those who left their units or deserted. President Zelenskyy later signed the law. The SBI confirmed that soldiers returning to their units before January 1, 2025, would be reinstated with full social guarantees.

On voluntary return to military service after desertion

On January 5, Deputy Head of the Presidential Office, Iryna Vereshchuk, mentioned discussing the idea of extending the voluntary return period for military personnel after desertion.

 On January 9, the Ukrainian Parliament extended the deadline for voluntary return to service until March 1, 2025. 

Following the adoption of the law, over 7,000 military personnel who had deserted returned to the Ukrainian army, according to the SBI.

• Several Russian websites simultaneously reported that "Ukrainian parents are withdrawing their children from universities en masse to save them from mobilization."