US EditionUkraine’s new defense chief reveals 200,000 soldiers have gone AWOL and 2 million are dodging draft
New Defense Minister Fedorov reveals Ukraine faces 2 million draft evaders and 200,000 AWOL soldiers amid ongoing war and military funding shortfalls.
- On Jan. 14, 2026, Mykhailo Fedorov was appointed Defense Minister, revealing two million Ukrainians are wanted for alleged mobilization evasion and 200,000 are AWOL.
- Long-Standing problems such as bureaucracy and corruption in the Defense Ministry, combined with manpower shortages and supply disruptions, have strained the Ukrainian armed forces along the front line.
- Facing a major funding gap, Fedorov said the Ministry of Defense audit will address a 300 billion-hryvnia shortfall and push drones and artificial intelligence reforms, as `This prevents soldiers on the front line from working at their maximum`.
- Prosecutors have already opened nearly 290,000 criminal cases for troops who abandoned units, and draft evasion or AWOL carry multi-year prison terms while Zelenskyy and parliament back mobilization reforms.
- Ukraine's expanding defence industry now counts 500 drone firms, 200 jamming firms, and about 20 missile producers, relying on more than $350 billion in aid and an EU loan with $105 billion for military use.
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87 Articles
The Ukrainian Ministry of Defense is considered to be particularly vulnerable to corruption, so the occupation of the top is crucial. After the 36-year-old Fedorov fails at the first election, it now works. He announces drastic reforms in the Ukrainian army.
A high desertion rate and two million draft dodgers are among the challenges facing Ukraine's military as Russia continues its invasion after nearly four years of fighting, Ukraine's new Defense Minister Mihailo Fedorov said today.
In his second attempt to establish as a new head of the Ministry of Defence, Mikhail Fedorov, who was the Minister of Digital Transformation, served for more than six years as one of the "long-term" members of the current Government and noted the journalists "Economic Truth", who had made a detailed portrait of Fedorov before his new appointment, and recalled that he had launched a popular mobile app called "Dia", which had become a "state in sm…
Ukraine’s new defense chief reveals 200,000 soldiers have gone AWOL and 2 million are draft dodging
Ukraine’s new Defense Minister Mykhailo Fedorov announced on Wednesday that 200,000 Ukrainian soldiers are officially considered as absent without official leave (AWOL), meaning they have left their positions without permission to do so.
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