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