Ukraine giving deserters a second chance

DW (English)

Those who rejoin the army will no longer be prosecuted for fleeing. Some are accepting the offer.

Transcript

00:00It's been 18 months since Oleksandr held a weapon.

00:06When Russia launched its full-scale invasion in February 2022, Oleksandr fought them in

00:11Chernihiv.

00:12But, he says, a year into the war, he handed his weapons to his commander and left.

00:19My brother is schizophrenic.

00:21His condition had become dangerous.

00:23He was even a threat to my neighbours.

00:25So I went home.

00:26Besides my brother and mother, I have nobody.

00:32Oleksandr had no legal way to apply to go.

00:36His commander had to report him for absence without leave, something which at the time

00:41could have put Oleksandr in prison for up to 10 years.

00:45And it's not just him.

00:47Cases of absence without leave have tripled so far this year.

00:52In August, the Ukrainian parliament decriminalised the offence for first-time offenders, if they

00:58returned to fight.

01:01Oleksandr readily volunteered to return.

01:04Lawyer Oksana Dohotar often represents such runaway soldiers.

01:09She says she's heard it all.

01:11Men who knew they were being sent to their deaths, men who had breakdowns, men who simply

01:17wanted to go home after two years on the front.

01:21It is difficult to go into battle against a tank or artillery when you know you have

01:26no artillery support behind you.

01:31When you have only one grenade and two ammo magazines, it's suicide.

01:37It really is suicide.

01:40Decriminalisation, she says, was the only option.

01:46There was a large number of these crimes, abandoning a military unit and desertion.

01:51They did not have time to process them all.

01:57Sergei's case has made it to this court in Kyiv.

02:01He was caught during a random documents check over a year after he'd left his position

02:06on the front line.

02:07He was serving in the artillery unit in Kramatorsk, struggling with chronic back pain.

02:14Then he heard his wife wanted a divorce.

02:17And he walked away from his unit.

02:19For a year, he stayed in a church and worked odd jobs.

02:23When the police stopped and arrested him, he did not resist.

02:28I'm not a robber, not a bandit, not a murderer.

02:31I'll go and fight again, but I have no regrets.

02:33I lived a little.

02:36The judge grants Sergei permission to rejoin the military and avoid prosecution.

02:43He must return within 72 hours.

02:46He tells us why he thinks so many people leave.

02:52The command, they don't care.

02:55They don't go to the front line with us.

02:58They stay far away.

02:59Only a few go with their unit.

03:01I'm only returning for my family.

03:04They're the people I'm really going back to war for.

03:15On the front lines, desertion is an uncomfortable subject.

03:19A senior officer at this military training agrees to tell us why.

03:26Leaving your unit leaves a stain on you as a military man.

03:29Whatever task is assigned to a unit, we have to carry it out.

03:33No matter if a member deserts the unit, is wounded or dies.

03:38So when our task has to be carried out by a smaller number of people, yeah, we definitely

03:42feel the pressure.

03:50Oleksandr acknowledges this.

03:55What I did was wrong.

03:58I left the guys, but I didn't endanger them.

04:03It was a personal decision, and they didn't understand.

04:06I shouldn't have left, but there was no other choice.

04:09Now Oleksandr wants to redeem himself.

04:13He's trying to join the 47th Brigade, one of the units actively reaching out to deserters.

04:20Telling them it's okay to make mistakes, and that the brigade would welcome them back.

04:25They say a hundred people contacted them in the first days.

04:31Officers here acknowledge things need to change.

04:35They tell us more periods of leave, more medical attention, and better communication

04:40will help.

04:43Oleksandr says he's ready to get back to the front.

04:45He's scared, but says he's focusing on a vision of the future.

04:50I hope that soon we'll be going to Kiev to celebrate the victory.

04:56There'll be a parade.

04:58All the boys will meet, and we'll grill kebabs.

05:04That's it.

05:05That's my dream.

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