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Inside Ukraine's AWOL and desertion crisis

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lead image from article   [smaller than in the text]   Caption: In October 2025, the number of AWOL and desertion cases in the Armed Forces of Ukraine reached a record 21,602. (Karolina Gulshani / The Kyiv Independent) By Asami Terajima, The Kyiv Independent , January 16, 2026 4:31 PM 12 min read Original article contains additional illustrations Panic attacks have haunted Ukrainian serviceman Yaroslav since he returned home in the summer, leaving him gasping at night. Frustration with his commanders drove the 33-year-old to go absent without leave (AWOL), joining a growing number of Ukrainian soldiers who have left their units without permission. For Yaroslav, then a deputy platoon commander, it began with what he described as his leadership's "indifference" to soldiers' lives. Yaroslav said his command kept ordering missions that, in his view, led to avoidable casualties, including long marches across open fields under drone threat, and at times failed to supply fro...
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Inside Ukraine's AWOL and desertion crisis

By Asami Terajima, The Kyiv Independent , January 16, 2026 4:31 PM 12 min read   Original article contains additional illutrations Panic attacks have haunted Ukrainian serviceman Yaroslav since he returned home in the summer, leaving him gasping at night. Frustration with his commanders drove the 33-year-old to go absent without leave (AWOL), joining a growing number of Ukrainian soldiers who have left their units without permission. For Yaroslav, then a deputy platoon commander, it began with what he described as his leadership's "indifference" to soldiers' lives. Yaroslav said his command kept ordering missions that, in his view, led to avoidable casualties, including long marches across open fields under  drone threat , and at times failed to supply front-line troops, unwilling to learn from what he saw as repeated mistakes. Over time, he said, the feeling that he could not change anything broke him. "(The commander) knows where he is sending the guys, and he,...
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Russian Strikes Force Kyiv Schools to Close Amid Rolling Blackouts

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Russia has targeted Ukraine’s energy infrastructure in past winters, but this year intensified its attacks as temperatures in Ukraine plunged well below freezing.  A residential area during a power blackout this month in Kyiv. Credit... Oksana Parafeniuk for The New York Times By  Constant Méheut Reporting from Kyiv, Ukraine The New York Times , Jan. 16, 2026,  1:16 p.m. ET As millions of Ukrainians endure the winter cold amid blackouts caused by repeated Russian strikes on power plants, Kyiv authorities announced on Friday that schools in the capital would close until February — one of the most severe disruptions yet to daily life. Announcing the closures in a post on social media, Mayor Vitali Klitschko  said  his top priority was “the safety of children.” Also on Friday, he said that about 70 multistory buildings in Kyiv remained without heat, a week after Russia bombarded heating and electrical infrastructure in and around the capital, while many others, inc...
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